The importance of being Hanuman Beniwal in Rajasthan politics

Vibha Sharma

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Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 19

Rashtriya Loktantrik Party MP Hanuman Beniwal, who is known to make his presence felt in the Lok Sabha with his statements despite being the only member from his party in the House, has also been making headlines in what is essentially a fight between the incumbent Congress and its main rival in Rajasthan, the BJP.

The NDA ally has been openly accusing senior BJP leader Vasundhara Raje of “helping” Ashok Gehlot save his government and the Chief Minister of “misusing the Special Operations Group (SOG)” and “getting phones tapped ”, “holding BTP MLAs captive”, “buying” and “luring MLAs with cabinet posts”.

“A husband is scared to talk to his wife over the phone these days,” he has been quoted as saying, standing by his allegations against former CM Raje while accusing her of trying to “lure” Jat MLAs belonging to the Sachin Pilot camp into the Gehlot camp. “It is because of my tweet that she had to break her silence,” says Beniwal while pledging support to rebel Congress leader Sachin Pilot in dislodging the “corrupt” Gehlot government.

His party has three MLAs in the Rajasthan Assembly.

Interestingly, Beniwal was suspended from the BJP in 2013 after he accused senior BJP leaders, including Raje and Rajendra Rathore, of “corruption” and having “connections with Congress leaders” after which he successfully organised several rallies and launched his political outfit in 2018.

Technically, Beniwal cannot be counted as someone from the BJP but political observers say he is saying what he is with the support of saffron leadership.

Inside the Lok Sabha also he is known to make controversial statements, more recent being one against the Gandhi family in context of coronavirus that led to a major ruckus in the House with Congress leaders accusing him of speaking at the behest of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“What BJP cannot say, Beniwal says on its behalf,” it is said about Beniwal who represents Nagaur in the Lok Sabha.

Beniwal, who has accused Raje of “making all efforts to save the minority government of Ashok Gehlot” and “ringing up many Congress leaders in this context”, says people of the state are well aware of the “close association” between Raje and Gehlot and “how they try to cover up each other’s corruption”.