In a statement issued on Wednesday evening, Minister Bedham said, “It is unbecoming of a four-time legislator and a two-term Lok Sabha member to lose his cool and make indecent remarks against the incumbent Chief Minister and other leaders.”
File Photo: IANS
The intermittent war of words between ruling BJP leaders and Rashtriya Loktantrik Party supremo and sitting Nagaur MP Hanuman Beniwal turned bitter when Minister of State for Home Jawahar Singh Bedham took serious exception to Beniwal’s utterances against Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma and the MoS.
In a statement issued on Wednesday evening, Minister Bedham said, “It is unbecoming of a four-time legislator and a two-term Lok Sabha member to lose his cool and make indecent remarks against the incumbent Chief Minister and other leaders.”
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The Home Minister said that last weekend, Beniwal visited Bharatpur district, the hometown of CM Sharma and MoS Bedham, to address a Jat congregation. However, he lost his cool upon seeing the poor turnout at the event.
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“In a frustrated state, Beniwal used indecent and foul language to make baseless comments against me and the Chief Minister”, Bedham said.
In a speech laced with satirical quips, the MP made remarks that reflected his “ignorance about the historic roles of Rajasthan’s real heroes, including the Jat King of Bharatpur, Maharaja Suraj Mal, Maharana Pratap, and Panna Dhai.
Likewise, Chief Minister Sharma has provided pro-development and effective governance in the state over the past one and a half years. However, Beniwal belittled the CM’s works and persona with dismissive and indecent remarks.
“This is not healthy or merit-based criticism. Since the assembly by-polls last November on the Khimsar (Nagaur) seat, Beniwal has made it a habit to condemn political adversaries as a way to vent his frustration.
This is because of the defeat of his wife, Kanika Beniwal, in the Khimsar assembly seat, which Beniwal had vacated after winning the Lok Sabha election from Nagaur in June last year,” MoS Bedham said.
This sort of conduct is not expected from a leader of his stature. The foul language used by Beniwal is neither befitting the decorum expected of a four-time MLA and two-term MP like him, nor dignified considering the stature of the leaders he targeted, Bedham said. Beniwal’s father and younger brother, Narsin, were also MLAs from the same constituency.
Since Beniwal, in his pro-active style of politics, has intermittently engaged in verbal duels with leaders of the ruling BJP as well as the principal opposition Congress, this could have been seen as just another round of political potshots between rivals.
However, the disconnection of the electricity supply on Wednesday at the residence of Beniwal’s elder, which also houses his MP office, due to non-payment of power bills, added a different dimension to the situation. The Power Supply Corporation issued a demand notice for outstanding dues amounting to over Rs 11 lakh. The consumer — Beniwal’s brother — has stated that the dues are under dispute and a conciliatory process is underway.
MP Beniwal has also termed the disconnection an “act of political bias” against him, stating that he has been vocal in taking a proactive and pro-people stance against the state government’s wrongdoing on various public issues.
“To facilitate a viable settlement of the bill payment, I even paid Rs 2 lakh in March last year,” he said.
On Wednesday, Beniwal also made serious accusations against Bedham and his Cabinet colleague Joga Ram Patel over the government’s decision not to cancel the 2021 SI recruitment examination and its handling of the Gurjar reservation quota issue.
This made the political crossfire more personal and bitter. The BJP state leadership and Chief Minister Sharma have also taken it seriously.
Beniwal has had a mixed relationship with both the Congress and the BJP. As a result, he has been seen locking horns at times with the saffron dispensation and, at other times, with the Congress-led INDIA bloc.
In 2003, he unsuccessfully contested the Khimsar seat as a candidate of the Indian National Lok Dal. In 2008, he contested and won the seat on a BJP ticket.
In 2013, after being expelled from the BJP, he entered the fray as an Independent and won a second term. He was re-elected to the assembly in the 2018 and 2023 state elections, and to the Lok Sabha in 2019 and 2024 as a candidate of the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party. In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the RLP was in alliance with the INDIA bloc.
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