Raja Mahendra Singh, who formed India’s first government-in-exile
Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh was the President in the first exile government of India, he visited all the countries to get India’s independence. Became MP after independence
All the personalities who have spent everything in the freedom movement are such that today’s young generation does not know, a few months ago, during the Aligarh tour, PM Modi was introduced to one such personality and the university being built in his name. had laid the foundation stone. This person was Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh, he went to Afghanistan in 1915 and formed the first government-in-exile of India and was elected its President. He also made many visits for help from foreign governments, actively participated in the freedom movement and reached the Lok Sabha after being active in politics after independence.
Born in Jat Raj family
Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh was born on 1 December 1886 in the Jat Raj family of Mursan. The princely state of Mursan was in Hathras district. He was the third son of Raja Ghanshyam Singh. It is said that in his childhood he was adopted as a son by King Harnarayan Singh of Hathras. That is why his childhood was spent in Vrindavan, where there used to be the palace of Raja Harnarayan Singh.
In this way the light of the freedom movement was awakened
In 1906, against the wishes of everyone, Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh participated in the session of the Indian National Congress held in Calcutta and returned from there in the color of Swadeshi, at that time he was married to the princess of Jind, in 1909 the princess had a daughter. It is the same year when King Mahendra Pratap established Prem Mahavidyalaya in Vrindavan, which was the first center of technical education in British India.
Due to a fine, a pledge of independence was taken
It was the year 1913, the publication of Nirbal Sevak weekly newspaper was started from Dehradun, Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh was its editor, due to his frequent travels in the country and abroad, King Mahendra was greatly influenced by German and one day wrote an article in his favor. After reading this, the British were stunned and they were fined 500 rupees, which used to be a huge amount at that time. The king paid for this punishment, but his desire for freedom became stronger.
The first government-in-exile was formed in 1915.
Taking advantage of the First World War that started in 1914, Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh first went to England and went to Germany and met the ruler there, who assured all possible help in getting India’s independence. From here Raja Saheb went to Afghanistan and reached Afghanistan via Budapest, Bulgaria, Turkey and met the emperor there. Here he announced the government-in-exile of India in 1915 and became the President, Maulana Barkatullah Khan was made the Prime Minister. A war was waged against the British in Afghanistan, help was sought from Russia, which was not received. From 1920 to 1946, Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh continued to tour abroad and returned to India in 1946.
meeting with Gandhi
When Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh returned home in 1946, he first reached Wardha to meet Gandhi, although he was not given any important responsibility in the Congress government of that time, but Gandhiji was definitely impressed by him. There is also a mention of this in the Abhinandan Granth published on Mahendra Pratap Singh after independence, in which Gandhiji has been quoted as saying that ‘I had developed respect for King Mahendra since 1915, he has been sending me letters. His patriotism and sacrifice is commendable.
Reached Lok Sabha in 1957 by winning as an independent
After returning to the country, Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh remained active in politics, but he did not get preference from the Congress, finally in the 1957 Lok Sabha elections, he contested as an independent from Mathura and won, this is the same election in which former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was also Was in the election fray, in this election he had to stay at number four. However, in this election, Atal ji was also contesting from Balrampur, in which he had won.
University being built in his name in Aligarh
Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh, who was active as a freedom fighter, revolutionary and journalist, died on 29 April 1979. A university is being established in his name in Aligarh, the Yogi government of Uttar Pradesh had announced the creation of this university in 2019. On 14 September 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation of Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh University.
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