Rajendra Prasad - A writer, teacher, lawyer, freedom fighter and First President of Indian Republic

Dr. Rajendra Prasad had a major role in the independence movement. Prasad's first association with Indian National Congress was during 1906 annual session organised in Calcutta, where he participated as a volunteer, while studying in Calcutta. Formally, he joined the Indian National Congress in the year 1911, when the annual session was again held in Calcutta. During the Lucknow Session of Indian National Congress held in 1916, he met Mahatma Gandhi. During one of the fact-finding missions at Champaran, Mahatma Gandhi asked him to come with his volunteers. He was so greatly moved by the dedication, courage and conviction of Mahatma Gandhi that as soon as the motion of Non-Cooperation was passed by Indian National Congress in 1920, he retired from his lucrative career of lawyer as well as his duties in the university to aid the movement. He also responded to the call by Gandhi to boycott Western educational establishments by asking his son, Mrityunjaya Prasad, to drop out of his studies and enrol himself in Bihar Vidyapeeth, an institution he along with his colleagues founded on the traditional Indian model.

During the course of the independence movement, he interacted with Rahul Sankrityayan, a writer, and polymath. Rahul Sankrityayan was greatly influenced by Prasad's intellectual powers, finding him to be a guide and guru. In many of his articles he mentioned about his meeting with Sankrityayan and narrated about his meetings with Sankrityayan. He wrote articles for the revolutionary publications Searchlight and the Desh and collected funds for these papers. He toured widely, explaining, lecturing, and exhorting the principles of the independence movement.

Literary contributions of Dr. Rajendra Prasad:

• Satyagraha at Champaran (1922)
• Division of India (1946, online)
• Atmakatha (1946), his autobiography written during his 3-year prison term in Bankipur Jail
• Mahatma Gandhi and Bihar, Some Reminiscences(1949)
• Bapu Ke Kadmon Mein (1954)
• Since Independence (published in 1960)
• Bharatiya Shiksha
• At the feet of Mahatma Gandhi

Top 10 Inspirational Quotes by Dr. Rajendra Prasad:

1. Now I am careful about the kind of roles that I do.

2. One must learn to play one's age.

3. Age is very important in the entertainment industry.

4. I know I cannot do all the stuff that I did ten years ago.

5. Nobody can push me aside.

6. What I mean is that today's films lay lot of emphasis on glamour and associated emotions.