He was born on 1 October 1920 to Yogendra Prasad Shahi and his wife.
He was the Member of the Legislative Assembly between 1980 and 1985 from Lalganj, Vaishali, defeating Jai Narain Prasad Nishad.
In 1984, he became Member of Parliament from Muzaffarpur and became the Education & Culture Minister in the Indian Government.
[1] His son Hemant Kumar Shahi was Member of Legislative Assembly from Vaishali.
His daughter-in-law Veena Shahi is a former MLA and co-operative minister of Bihar.