Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Dr Rajendra Prasad, leaders of the national movement, shared which profession before they joined the freedom struggle full-time?

Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Dr Rajendra Prasad were all trained lawyers before they devoted themselves full-time to the freedom struggle.

Jawaharlal Nehru:

• He studied at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge, and trained as a barrister at the Inner Temple, London.
• He was called to the bar in 1912 and practised at the Allahabad High Court, but showed little interest in legal practice.
• He joined the national movement and became a close associate of Gandhi.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel:

• He practised law as a district pleader in Gujarat (Godhra and Borsad).
• He went to England and became a barrister at the Middle Temple (1913), where he topped his examinations.
• He became one of the most successful criminal lawyers in Ahmedabad.
• He gave up his practice to join Gandhi in the peasant struggles of Gujarat.

Dr Rajendra Prasad:

• He was a brilliant student who topped the entrance examination of Calcutta University.
• He obtained a master's degree in law and a doctorate in law.
• He practised at the Calcutta High Court and later at the Patna High Court.
• He gave up his practice during the Non-Cooperation Movement.

Lawyers in the national movement:

• Many leaders of the national movement were lawyers, because the legal profession was one of the few independent professions open to educated Indians.
• Lawyers were familiar with English law and political ideas, and could speak in public and argue cases.

Other famous lawyer-leaders included Mahatma Gandhi, Motilal Nehru, C. R. Das, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai, B. R. Ambedkar and Bhulabhai Desai.

During the Non-Cooperation Movement (1920-22), many lawyers gave up their practice as part of the boycott of law courts.

NCERT on the Non-Cooperation Movement:

NCERT notes that thousands of students left government schools and colleges, and lawyers gave up their legal practices, during the movement.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Medicine, teaching and journalism were the professions of some other leaders.