Rajendra Prasad Quotes

Honourable Members...I ask you, Members, to stand in your places to pay our tribute of respect to Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah, who by his grim determination and stead fast devotion was able to carve out and found Pakistan and whose passing away at this moment is an irreparable loss to all.

All through his political career he held coveted positions.

He was a simple person, a soft spoken personality, with a reserved temperament. He summed up about his own life work himself 'from a lawyer I became a law breaker, and finally a law maker'.

Rajendra Prasad has frankly exposed the double standards adopted by the critics of Swami Shraddhananda : “‘The Shuddhi movement of Swami Shraddhananda has come in for a great deal of criticism both from the nationalists and Mussalmans. Whatever one may have to say about its opportuneness as that particular moment, it is difficult to understand how Christians and Mussalmans can object to it on merits. They are constantly engaged in proselytising mission and converting Hindus to their own faiths. Ifthe Hindus on their side also start converting non-Hindus to their faith, it is no business of non-Hindus, specially if they are themselves engaged in the work of con- version, to object. The Hindus must have the same right of propagating their faith as others have.’’

He was simple living follower of Gandhi who spent many years in British jails fighting non-violently for Indians freedom. He had a big walrus like mustache and his magnificent face always seemed to be holding back a smile at the strange twist of history which took him from the British viceroy’s jail into the Viceroy’s own palace with the Viceroy’s own bodyguard. He was such a warm and unostentatious person that the great long halls and chambers must have seemed oppressive and unnatural.

The Head of the State in the British Constitution is a Monarch and the Crown descends according to the rules of heredity. In India the Head of the State is an elected President who holds office for a term and can be removed for misconduct in accordance with the procedure laid down in the Constitution.

Today, for the first time in our long and chequered history, we find the whole of this vast land... brought together under the jurisdiction of one constitution and one union which takes over responsibility for the welfare of more than 320 million men and women who inhabit it.

Whenever the people suffered, he was present to help reduce the pain.

The most vital point on which the difference between the Prime Minister and the First President of India, came to surface in a very big way was the passage of Hindu Code Bill. Before the Hindu Code Bill was to be discussed in the Parliament he had made it clear to the Prime Minister Jawharlal Nehru, that he was not in favour of the Hindu Code Bill. He also told Nehru that the present cabinet had not been elected by the people; they had no right to pass the Hindu Code Bill without the consent of the people. There had been long correspondence between the President and the Prime Minister on this very vital point of grave public importance.

Our constitution is comparatively a new constitution. It is based largely on the model of the British Constitution. As such it has history if not ancestry, which may well go back to centuries. It is being worked I venture to presume, successfully and to the satisfaction of all concerned although within the short period of 10 years, it has had to undergo not less than 7 amendments...The constitution is largely founded on the British Constitution. There are certain differences which are obvious. The British Constitution is a unitary constitution in which the Parliament is supreme, having no other authority sharing its power of legislation except such as may be delegated. Our constitution is a federal constitution in which the powers and functions of the Union Parliament and the State Legislatures are clearly defined and the one has no power or right to encroach upon the rights and powers reserved to the other.

He got very good opportunity to groom himself in various fields, and that too with rare distinction. Right from the beginning the destiny had been preparing him slowly and steadily for the highest office of the President of the Indian Republic – which he genuinely deserved.

He was a key campaigner in the nationalist movement of Mahatma Gandhi, along with India's interim Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.

Gandhiji's influence greatly altered many of his views, most importantly on caste and untouchability. Gandhiji made him realize that the nation, working for a common cause, "became of one caste, namely co-workers"

The executive power of the Union is vested in the President and shall be exercised by him either directly or through officers subordinate to him in accordance with the Constitution. The Supreme Command of the Defence forces of the Union is also vested in him and the exercise thereof shall be regulated by law.

He [Rajan Babu] and Brij Kishore Babu were a matchless pair. Their devotion made it impossible for me to take a single step without their help.