A Look Back: Story of MP who Resigned After Going to the Parliament for One Day

Chandrapur: Political leaders of today cling to power no matter what while pretending to wear a drape of morality. Contrarily, the story of an MP who went to Parliament for a single day before tendering his election for moral reasons reminds one of the dignity that was respected in politics. The then Independent MP from Chanda (Chandrapur), Lal Shyam Shah, who won the 1962 Lok Sabha general election, went to the House only one day and resigned. Shah's story and the reason behind his resignation is inspiring. 

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Who was Lal Shyam Shah?

• Lal Shyam Shah was born on May 1, 1919, in  the then Madhya Pradesh. He was a zamindar of Panabaras in the Chanda (Chandrapur) area and an MLA from the Chowki Assembly constituency. He resigned as MLA in January 1956. 
• Shah contested the Chanda Lok Sabha election in 1957. However, he was defeated by Congress' Adv V. N. Swami. 
• In the 1962 election, Shah defeated Swami and became an MP. He was sworn in as an MP on September 5, 1962, and resigned in April 1964. 
• Lal Shyam Shah's Hindi biography, written by Delhi-based senior editor and scholar Sudeep Thakur, was published in 2018 and the historical reason for his resignation came to light. 

What is the reason for resigning?  Lal Shyam Shah was at the forefront of advocacy for water, forest, and land warfare. After reorganization, the Chanda constituency came to Maharashtra state from Madhya Pradesh. Shah became an MP from Chanda in 1962. At the same time, the central government started the process of bringing Bangla refugees from East Pakistan into the Dandakaranya area.  Lal Shyam Shah asked why the Central government was imposing a new disaster on Dandakaranya when the problems of the local tribals were very serious. Finally, a visibly upset Shah told the then Lok Sabha Speaker Sardar Hukum Singh that he was resigning. 

He wrote his resignation from the Dharmarao bungalow in Chanda. Lok Sabha Speaker Sardar Hukum Singh accepted his resignation on April 24, 1964. This resignation letter is available in a biography written by Sudeep Thakur.  

What did the resignation say?"I can't force the government to do anything, But I can urge you to think about all these things in a new way. That is why I'm resigning," he said.