Beni Prasad Verma

Beni Prasad Verma (born 11 February 1941) is an Indian politician and presently a member of the Indian National Congress political party. Earlier he was with Samajwadi Party of Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Personal life

Beni Prasad Verma was born in Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh^[1] into a Kurmi family.^[2] He got married to Malti Devi in 1956 and he has two daughters and three sons.

Political career

Beni Prasad Verma is currently steel Minister of Indian Government. He was the Public Works Department minister for the State of Uttar Pradesh in India for several years.

He served as the Union Communications Minster in Deve Gowda's cabinet from 1996-98.

He was re-elected to the Lok Sabha in 1998, 1999 and 2004 from the same constituency. In 2009, he was re-elected to the Lok Sabha from Gonda constituency in Uttar Pradesh state as an Indian National Congress candidate and on July-12-2011 was appointed the Steel Minister in Manmohan Singh Government.

Educational Institutes

Beni Prasad Verma has established educational institutions Charan Singh Mahavidyalay at Bardari near Badosarai and Mahanlal Verma Educational Educational Institute in his home district of Barabanki.^[3]

Controversies

In February 2012, during the Uttar Pradesh elections Verma dared EC to arrest him, saying quota for Muslims will be hiked.^[4] Verma said this while addressing a rally at Kaimganj in the presence of Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh and Union law and minority affairs minister Salman Khurshid. Earlier, Khurshid created a controversy by stating that he would continue to speak on nine per cent sub-quota for Muslims even if the Election Commission says its against the guideline to promise such a thing during the elections.

On 19 August 2012 he made a remark in Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh that "With the increasing price levels, the farmers are benefitting. Dal, atta, vegetables have all become expensive. I am happy with this price rise. The more the prices rise the better it is for farmers," the minister said .^[5]

On 15 October 2012 he made a controversial remark that "I believe Salman Khurshid could not have embezzled Rs 71 lakh. It is a very small amount for a central minister. I would have taken it seriously if the amount was Rs 71 crore." The Times of India said his statements are grossly ill-timed and ill-phrased. ^[6]

On 13 December 2012, he made a remark that “Do not hang Afzal Guru but give him life imprisonment”. The timing of Verma’s statement is important as it came on a day when the nation was paying homage to the martyrs of terrorist attack on Parliament. It was on this day in 2001, heavily armed terrorists attacked the temple of democracy, killing 11 persons including five policemen.^[7]

In December 2013, when he asked about kumar vishwas standing against Rahul Gandhi in election from Rahul gandhi's home place Amethi he said, "what will he fight, how will he fight. He is nothing but a joker. There are so many jokers already, he can join them."^[8]

References

External links

• "Who is Beni Prasad Verma?". Hindustan Times. March 20, 2013. Retrieved March 21, 2013. 
• Detailed profile: Beni Prasad Verma in India.gov.in website

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