Arjun Ram Meghwal has been appointed as the country's new law minister replacing Kiren Rijiju. Meghwal will now have independent charge of the Union law ministry in addition to the charges of culture, and parliamentary affairs as Minister of State. Rijiju, who has been considered one of the high-profile ministers at the Centre, has been moved to the apparently low-key Ministry of Earth Sciences. The surprise move comes less than a year after Rijiju was promoted to the Law Ministry with Cabinet rank.
“The President of India, as advised by the Prime Minister, is pleased to direct the following reallocation of portfolios among Ministers in the Union Council of Ministers: (i) The portfolio of Ministry of Earth Sciences be assigned to Kiren Rijiju; (ii) Arjun Ram Meghwal, Minister of State be assigned the independent charge as Minister of State in the Ministry of Law and Justice in addition to his existing portfolios, in place of Kiren Rijiju,” a statement from the Rashtrapati Bhavan read.
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Who Is Arjun Ram Meghwal?
A three-time Member of Parliament from Rajasthan’s Bikaner Lok Sabha constituency, Arjun Ram Meghwal is one of the most prominent Dalit faces of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the state. His apparent elevation as the Law Minister comes at a time when Rajasthan is slated to go into polls later this year.
Justice should be served to all and cases pending in courts should be as less as possible, Arjun Ram Meghwal, said soon after his appointment as Law Minister, the news agency ANI reported.
#WATCH | Justice should be served to all and cases pending in courts should be as less as possible, says Arjun Ram Meghwal soon after his appointment as Law minister. pic.twitter.com/m11RUjB2yW
— ANI (@ANI) May 18, 2023
Meghwal, who grew up in a weaving community, completed his LLB in 1977. He also obtained a post-graduation degree before qualifying for the Rajasthan Administrative Services Exams to be selected for the Rajasthan Udhyog Seva.
He also served in the Indian Post and Telegraph Department. Meghwal's involvement in politics began when he contested and won the elections for the post of general secretary of the Telephone Traffic Association.
Arjun Ram Meghwal later moved to the country's top line of bureaucracy with elevation to the Indian Administrative Service (IAS).
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Meghwal formally entered politics in 2009 after resigning from the IAS. He was given a BJP ticket to contest Lok Sabha from Bikaner the same year. Meghwal replaced the incumbent BJP MP and actor Dharmendra after the seat was reserved for Scheduled Castes. He retained the seat in the 2014 election and was appointed Minister for Finance (Mos) in 2016. Meghwal also served as the BJP's Chief Whip in the 16th Lok Sabha.
While Meghwal's vote share in the 2019 election dropped to less than 60 percent from 62 percent in the previous election, he managed to retain the seat and also secured a place in the Union Cabinet.
(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)
First Published: May 18, 2023 12:15 PM IST
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