Raja Mahendra Pratap was a revolutionary and a patriot with an ondomitable zeal for India's freedom. Born on 1 December 1886 at Musran inAligarh District of Uttar Pardesh in the well-to-do family Raja Ghansiam Singh, he was a rare prince who voluntarily chose the path of a wandering pilgrim in quest of freedom of his motherland. Spurred by the conviction that freedom was not possible without revolutionary struggle and revolutionary struggle was not possible from within the country, he left India in 1914. For the next three decades he relentlessly srtrived to arose the conscience of world community to help India free herself from the foreign yoke. In 1015, through Germany and Turkey, he made his way to Afghanistan. That year in Kabul, along with other Indian revolutionaries he established Provisional Government of Free India.

He was the President and Maulana Barkatullah was the Prime Minister. It was, however, an exercise tinged with disappointment and had a brief life. While in United States, he worked in cooperation with the Hindustan Ghadar Party. He was sent as their emissary to Tibet to organise a revolt against the British. Inhis wide-ranging travels spanning three decades and ythree continents, from America through Europe and Russia to China and Japan, he met with disappointment in his quest for foreign help in India's struggle for independence. As a result, he turned his energies to establishment of a world federation based on his belief in the essential unity of all religions and equality of all races.

In his later life, he came under the spell of Mahatma Gandhi and accepted the Gandhian philosophy og non-violence. He was also an educationist who believed invocational training for the youth. In 1909, he started a technical college at Vrindaban in Uttar Pardesh. A frequent contributor to various Indian papers, he founded a monthly journal, the 'World Federation' in 1929. He was elected a member of the Lok Sabha (lower house of Indian Parliament) from 1957-62. He passed away in New Delhi on 29 April 1979 at the age of 93 after a very eventful life.

Indian P & T Department salutes the memory of a revolutionary son of Mother India by issuing a commemorative postage stamp of 30 Paise denomination on the anniversary of Independence.

Source : Information Folder issued by Indian Posts & Telegraph Department, Government of India