The Bankipur Central Jail was a colonial prison located in Patna in the state of Bihar, India. Many notable dissidents such as Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar, Rajendra Prasad, Brajkishore Prasad, Srikrishna Sinha, Anugrah Narayan Sinha, Mulana Mazharul Haque and J. B. Kripalani, among others, were imprisoned here during the struggle for India's independence. [1] [2]
The Central Jail was shifted from Bankipur to Beur in early 1960s by the then chief minister of Bihar, Pandit Binodanand Jha. [3] Later, the prison was demolished and a Buddha Park were constructed in the same area. [4]
Jayaprakash Narayan Srivastava, also known as JP and Lok Nayak, was an Indian independence activist, theorist, socialist and political leader. He is mainly remembered for leading the mid-1970s opposition against Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and calling for her overthrow in a "total revolution". In 1999, Narayan was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, in recognition of his social service. His other awards include the Magsaysay award for public service in 1965.
Lalu Prasad Yadav is an Indian politician and president of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). He is a former Chief Minister of Bihar (1990-1997), a former Railway Minister of India (2004-2009), and a former Member of Parliament (MP) of the Lok Sabha.
Rajendra Prasad was an Indian politician, lawyer, journalist and scholar who served as the first president of India from 1950 to 1962. He joined the Indian National Congress during the Indian independence movement and became a major leader from the region of Bihar. A supporter of Mahatma Gandhi, Prasad was imprisoned by British authorities during the Salt Satyagraha of 1930 and the Quit India movement of 1942. After the constituent assembly 1946 elections, Prasad served as 1st Minister of Food and Agriculture in the central government from 1947 to 1948. Upon independence in 1947, Prasad was elected as President of the Constituent Assembly of India, which prepared the Constitution of India and which served as its provisional Parliament.
Shatrughan Prasad Sinha is an Indian actor and politician. He is a Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Asansol constituency as a member of All India Trinamool Congress (TMC). Earlier he was elected as Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Patna Sahib. He was also a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha during 1996–2002 and 2002–2008. He was a Union Cabinet Minister of Health and Family Welfare and Shipping in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. He was a member of standing committee on transport, tourism and culture and member of consultative committee in ministry of external affairs and overseas Indian affairs from 2014 to 2019. In 2016, his biography, Anything but Khamosh, was released.
Shri Krishna Singh (Sinha) (21 October 1887 – 31 January 1961), also known as Shri Babu, was the first chief minister of the Indian state of Bihar (1946–61). Except for the period of World War II, Sinha was the chief minister of Bihar from the time of the first Congress Ministry in 1937 until his death in 1961. Along with the Desh Ratna Rajendra Prasad and Bihar Vibhuti Anugrah Narayan Sinha (A.N. Sinha), Sinha is regarded among the architects of modern Bihar. He also led the Dalit entry into the Baidyanath Dham temple (Vaidyanath Temple, Deoghar). He was the first chief minister in the country to abolish the zamindari system. He underwent terms of imprisonment for a total of about eight years in British India. Sinha's mass meetings brought many people to hear him. He was known as Bihar Kesari for his "lionlike roars" in public speaking. His close friend and Gandhian Bihar Vibhuti A.N. Sinha in his essay Mere Shri Babu wrote that, "Since 1921, the History of Bihar has been the history of the life of Shri Babu". The 'Bihar Kesari' never visited his constituency to ask for votes as he believed that his work will speak for him.
Nitish Kumar is an Indian politician who has served as the 22nd chief minister of Bihar since 22 February 2015, having previously held the office from 2005 to 2014 and for a short period in 2000. He is Bihar's longest serving chief minister whilst also holding the post for his 9th term.
The Fodder Scam was a corruption scandal that involved the embezzlement of about ₹9.4 billion from the government treasury of the north Indian state of Bihar. Among those implicated in the theft and arrested were then Chief Minister of Bihar, Lalu Prasad Yadav, as well as former Chief Minister, Jagannath Mishra. The scandal led to the end of Lalu's reign as Chief Minister. Dr. Dineshwar Prasad Sharma is also alleged to have received ₹300.60 crores from S. N. Sinha. On 23 December 2017, Lalu Prasad Yadav was convicted by a special CBI court while Jagannath Misra was acquitted.
Krishna Ballabh Sahay, popularly known as K B Sahay was an Indian freedom fighter, who after Indian Independence became the Revenue Minister of Bihar and then became the fourth Chief Minister of unified Bihar.
Basawon Singh or Basawan Singh also known as Basawon Sinha, was an Indian independence activist and a campaigner for the rights of the underprivileged, and industrial and agricultural workers.
Mohammad Shahabuddin was a politician and former Member of Parliament from the Siwan constituency in the state of Bihar. He was a former member of the National Executive Committee of the Janata Dal and the Rashtriya Janata Dal. Shahabuddin was disqualified from contesting elections following his conviction for the kidnapping and disappearance of Chote Lal Gupta, an activist of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation for which he was serving a life sentence. He was also accused of killing 15 other Communist Party activists, including the former student leader Chandrashekhar Prasad.
Yogendra Shukla was an Indian nationalist and freedom fighter, notable for his contributions in the state of Bihar. He was incarcerated in the Cellular Jail, also known as Kala Pani, and was a founding member of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA). Shula, in collaboration with Basawon Singh (Sinha), was also instrumental in establishing the Congress Socialist Party in Bihar.
Satyendra Narayan Sinha was an Indian politician and statesman, participant in the Indian independence movement, a leading light of Jaya Prakash Narayan's ‘complete revolution’ movement during the Emergency and a former Chief Minister of Bihar. Affectionately called Chhote Saheb, he was also a seven-time Member of Parliament from the Aurangabad constituency, a three-term Member of the Bihar Legislative Assembly, and a Member of the Bihar Legislative Council once. Regarded to be one of India's most influential regional people of the time, his reputation was synonymous with being a strict disciplinarian and tough taskmaster.
Anugrah Narayan Sinha, known as Bihar Vibhuti, was an Indian nationalist statesman, participant in Champaran Satyagraha, Gandhian & one of the architects of modern Bihar, who was the first Deputy Chief Minister and the Finance Minister of the Indian state of Bihar (1946–1957). He was also a Member of the Constituent Assembly of India, which was elected to write the Constitution of India and served in its first Parliament as an independent nation. He also held a range of portfolios including Labour, Local Self Government, Public Works, Supply & Price Control, Health and Agriculture. A.N. Sinha, affectionately called Anugrah Babu, was a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi during the freedom movement and worked with Bihar Kesari Sri Krishna Sinha to lead the Gandhian movement in Bihar. One of the leading nationalists in the Indian independence movement from Bihar after Dr Rajendra Prasad, he was elected as the Congress Party deputy leader in the state assembly to assume office as the first Deputy Chief Minister cum Finance Minister of independent Bihar, and re-elected when the Congress Party won Bihar's first general election with a massive mandate in 1952.
Media in Bihar started with Bihar Bandhu, the first Hindi newspaper published there.
Buddha Smriti Park also known as Buddha Memorial Park is an urban park located on Frazer Road near Patna Junction in Patna, India. This park has been designed by Vikram Lall and developed by the Bihar Government to commemorate the 2554th birth anniversary of the Buddha. This park was inaugurated by the 14th Dalai Lama.
Beur Central Jail is the main prison of Bihar state of India and is located in Patna.
Sadaqat Ashram is located in Patna, Bihar, beside the main road of Digha area, on the banks of the River Ganges, almost seven kilometres from the airport. This was one of the residences of Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the first President of India, who lived there after retirement and spent the last days of his life there.
Ritlal Yadav or Ritlal Ray is a leader of RJD who won the Bihar Legislative Council election in July 2015 as an independent candidate. Ritlal was in jail in connection with multiple criminal cases, including murder charges. Ritlal is accused in over 33 cases. He was a former Member of Legislative Council (MLC), the post, to which he was elected in 2016. He was incarcerated in Beur Jail until August 2020. However he was then released from the jail on bail. Ritlal Yadav defeated BJP's Asha Devi Sinha in the 2020 Bihar Assembly elections.
Deo Kumar Singh, commonly known by his nom de guerre Arvind Ji, Vikash Ji and Sujeet Ji, was an Indian politician who was the leader of the Indian Maoist movement and the Politburo Member of Communist Party of India (Maoist), a banned communist party in India. He spent his life as a student leader, a mass organiser and later led and strategised the guerrilla warfare against the Indian state.
Basawan Prasad Bhagat is an Indian politician based in Bihar, who was elected to Bihar Legislative Assembly twice from Kurhani Assembly constituency of the Muzaffarpur district of Bihar. Bhagat also served as minister in Government of Bihar under Lalu Prasad Yadav twice. He was allotted Ministry of Prison Affairs and Ministry of Law. He joined Bharatiya Janata Party in 2017 in the presence of Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister, Keshav Prasad Maurya.