Sahdeo Mahato was an Indian independence activist and politician from

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

, who served as member of

Bihar Legislative Assembly The Bihar Legislative Assembly, also known as the Bihar Vidhan Sabha, is the lower house of the bicameral Bihar Legislature of the state of Bihar in India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is ...

for five terms. He was a prominent leader of

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

in the

Samastipur district Samastipur is one of the thirty-eight districts of Bihar in India. The district headquarters are located at Samastipur. The district occupies an area of 2904km² and has a population of 4,261,566. Samastipur was the largest milk producing distr ...

. Mahato also served in several ministerial offices in his long political career of three decades.

Life and career

Mahato was born in a

Koeri The Koeri (spelt as Koiry or Koiri), also referred to as Kushwaha and more recently self-described as Maurya in several parts of northern India are an Indian non-elite caste, found largely in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, whose traditional oc ...

Kushwaha Kushwaha (sometimes Kushvaha), is a community of the Indo-Gangetic Plain that has traditionally been involved in agriculture, including beekeeping. The term has been used to represent different sub-castes of the Kachhis, Kachhvahas, Koeris ...

family in 1922 in Haripur village, in Rosera police station area of Darbhanga district of contemporary Bihar province in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

. His father was a farmer and as per tradition of those times, his initial education took place at his home. Later, he was enrolled in a primary school at Bhirha. After completing his middle school education, he passed matriculation from Rosera High school. He completed his Intermediate from Chandradhari Mithila college. By this time the Quit India movement of 1942 was launched in India. He participated in this movement as a student and to escape the colonial police he had to seek refuge in the home of his maternal grandparents.Singh, P. P. (2008). Bihar Councils of Ministers, 1937-2007. India: Jnanada Prakashan. By 1950, he completed his graduation from Arrah college and also completed his master's degree in political science. He also took the bachelor's degree in law. After Indian independence, he started practicing as a lawyer. In 1950s, he worked as lawyer in Samastipur district court. After working as lawyer for two years, he started his political journey and in 1952, he got the opportunity to contest in Bihar Legislative Assembly elections as a member of

. He won in the

1952 Bihar Legislative Assembly election Elections were held in March 1952 for the Bihar Legislative Assembly. There were 276 constituencies with 50 of them being two-member constituencies. The Indian National Congress (INC) stormed into power. Shri Krishna Singh became the first elected ...

s from Dalsinghsarai East Assembly constituency. In 1957 and 1962 Assembly elections, he won from Samastipur East constituency. In 1969 Assembly elections, he won again from Rosera Assembly constituency and in 1972 Assembly elections, he won for the fifth time from Samastipur constituency again. He also served as parliamentary secretary and soon caught the attention of contemporary Chief Minister

Sri Krishna Singh 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 t ...

. He served as state minister for multiple times (as for example in the cabinet led by Binodanand Jha) and got the portfolio of prison affairs, irrigation, power and public works department. In his third term as legislator, he was made cabinet minister of Food and Civil Supplies and later made cabinet minister of production department. He also established ''Backward Class stipend commission'' for the financial welfare of backward communities. He was later elected as president of ''All India Kushwaha Mahasabha'', a caste organisation.

Commemoration

In the commemoration of Mahato,

Government of Bihar Bihar Government is the State governments of India, state government of the States and territories of India, Indian state of Bihar and its nine Divisions of Bihar, divisions which consist of Districts of Bihar, districts. It consists of an execut ...

established a lane in the Sri Krishna Puri locality of

Patna Patna (; , ISO 15919, ISO: ''Paṭanā''), historically known as Pataliputra, Pāṭaliputra, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, ...

named Sahdev Mahto Maarg.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahato, Sahdeo Indian National Congress politicians from Bihar Bihar MLAs 1952–1957 Bihar MLAs 1957–1962 Bihar MLAs 1962–1967 Bihar MLAs 1969–1972 Bihar MLAs 1972–1977 People from Samastipur district Indian independence activists from Bihar State cabinet ministers of Bihar 1922 births 1974 deaths Indian National Congress (Organisation) politicians