Basudeo Singh

Always clad in a dhoti-kurta and hawaii chappals, the lanky and frail CPM MLC used to have a problem in taking his rickshaw to the portico.

“The security guards of the legislative building are attuned to legislators arriving in expensive SUVs, but Basudeo Singh, despite being a one-term MLA and three-term MLC, never owned a car. Security guards always found it hard to believe that he was a legislator,” remarked a fellow MLC.

However, honesty, simplicity and integrity of 81-year-old Singh drew respect from all parties. Once while he was speaking in the House, there was interruption from a few other members. “Please keep quiet. It’s Basudeo Babu speaking,” appealed chief minister Nitish Kumar, bringing the House to silence.

It was hardly surprising that on Monday when he died in AIIMS, New Delhi, the Council offices were closed as a mark of respect and Nitish was quick to announce a state funeral for him. Messages mourning his death poured from all quarters. During the last session of the Council, Singh had fainted and Nitish ensured that he was air-dashed to Delhi.

Singh got elected to the Council from Darbhanga teachers’ seat for the first time in 1996. Prior to that, he was an MLA from Begusarai. Once a high school teacher, he quit his job to fight for the cause of teachers. “He consistently raised the issue related to problems of teachers both inside the House and outside. Outside the House, he would pursue the matter by meeting the chief minister, ministers and officials. He would keep reminding them until the work was done,” recalled CPI MLC Kedar Nath Pandey.

He stuck hard to his values and a sharp difference with the CPM led to his expulsion from the party. Later, when he won his seat in the Council as an Independent, his expulsion was withdrawn. Singh lived in a single room given to him by the teachers’ association at Jamal Road. Unlike most legislators, he never owned a house in Patna. “His lifestyle was irregular. He kept walking on foot from one place to another,” said another MLC.

Bihar Legislative Council chairman Awadesh Narayan Singh said: “It is an irreparable loss to the Council and the society at large.”

On Tuesday, his body will reach Patna at 8.30am and later the body will be kept on the Council campus from 10.30am to enable other members pay last tributes to him.

His body would also be taken to the CPM party office in Jamal Road around 9.30am and later it will also be taken to his native village Chandanpur. CPM state secretary Vijaykant Thakur said the final rites would be performed at Simaria Ghat in Begusarai on Tuesday afternoon.