New Delhi, Nov 29 (PTI) Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha Harivansh on Friday said justice was not done to the memories of first president of India Rajendra Prasad, though many of his contemporaries felt he was the true successor of Mahatma Gandhi.
While delivering the Dr Rajendra Prasad Memorial Lecture here, Harivansh said the first president of India was a great man of humble origin.
"He had an ordinary appearance but he was a great man. He was a prominent freedom fighter, minister in the interim government, and president of the Congress and the Constituent Assembly.
"All eminent Gandhians of the era said he was the only true successor of Gandhi," the deputy chairperson of Rajya Sabha said.
He said not enough was spoken about him over the years, and quoted eminent author Harivansh Rai Bachchan on this.
"Rajendra Babu is lesser known to the nation, or we should say less was spoken about him. I am not saying this. An eminent writer like Harivansh Rai Bachchan said this," he said.
Harivansh said Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography ended in 1921 and Rajendra Prasad is mentioned at four places in it.
"It cannot be called insufficient because till that time his special performance was limited to the Champaran movement," he said.
Harivansh said first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru's auto-biography finished in 1936.
"In these 15 years, Rajendra ji's area of work had expanded and become very significant. In 1934 he (Rajendra Prasad) was made the Congress president but his name is mentioned in Nehru's biography only once.
"Gandhi ji is mentioned 116 times," the Rajya Sabha deputy chairman said.
He said Prasad's village was also lying in ruins for years and was ignored by contemporary governments.
"In the 1980s, his village was in ruins. A person from his village told (former prime minister) Chandrashekhar ji to at least get his house repaired.
"When Chandrashekhar ji became prime minister, he sent the Archeological Survey and got his house repaired. When Nitish Kumar became the chief minister (of Bihar) in 2005, the area was developed," he said.
Prasad was born in Ziradei, a village in the Siwan district of Bihar.
Harivansh also said under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India is making strides on the side of development. He credited government policy for bringing 25 crore Indians out of poverty. PTI AO AO KSS KSS