Rai Bahadur Thakur Jaiswal

Late Rai Bahadur Thakur Jaiswal, the prominent businessperson from the royal family of Jamalpur was a strong nationalist, who contributed in the freedom movement . He finished his education from Allahabad University with Gold medal. He was given various names out of respect and one such was the shellac king of Bihar,Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. It's known that he contributed towards the freedom movement by donating his wealth. He also donated lands to tribal people for their upliftments. Shri Rai Sahib turned down the title of Raja Saheb by the British government following Gandhiji’s advice in 1938.Shri Rai Bahadur was the industrial advisor to the government before independence. The family has a lineage of 800 years.

Second generation scion Rai Sahib Laxminarayan, whose father Late Rai Bahadur Thakur had migrated to Ranchi from Uttar Pradesh, scaled up the business to great heights. In 1922, he became the first non-British to own a Ford car.

The Ford car owned by the royal family once drove the father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi from Ranchi to Ramgarh for the famous Ramgarh Congress convention in 1940. Besides, it is also the most sought after vehicle for the elite families, especially those known to the Jaiswals, for taking out their marriage processions in this four-seater convertible Ford car.

The Mahatma's connection with this vintage car imported from London in 1922 by the then Shellac King Late Rai Sahib Lakshmi Narain Jaiswal is the most precious possession of this family into liquor and shellac business. Besides the Mahatma, Indian Presidents Rajendra Prasad and Zakir Hussain too had honoured the ride.

In 1940, when Gandhiji came to Ranchi, he visited ailing Rai Bahadur thakur jaiswal and then proceeded to Ramgrah in their Ford. Rai Sahib, also a strong nationalist, grabbed the opportunity and drove the Mahatma in his car. The family is awarded a tamra patra for the active participation in the freedom movement. Rai Saheb's son Sheo Narain Jaiswal was chairman Ranchi municipality for a period of 14 years(1962-76). One of the family member Rajaram Shastri was awarded by Padma Vibhusan and was Members of Parliament from Varanasi. Great grandson of rai sahib Aditya Vikram Jaiswal is the State President Jharkhand Pradesh Professionals Congress and state secretary in Jharkhand Congress and is the President of social organization Empower Jharkhand which works for the upliftment of the underprivileged people.

The royal Jaiswal family is a traditional Congress supporter. Many of the family ancestors have been leaders of the party. Former minister Rpn Singh and Rameshwar oraon started the Jharkhand Vidhansabha yatra campaign 2019 in this Ford car.