In a major reshuffle, the Union Cabinet has shifted Kiren Rijiju from the Ministry of Law and Justice to the Ministry of Earth Sciences and made Arjun Ram Meghwal the minister of state (MoS), independent charge, of the law ministry on Wednesday, May 18th.
Rijiju, a three-term member of Parliament (MP) from Arunachal Pradesh, has been frequently criticising the judiciary over the appointment of judges to the high and Supreme Court.
The 51-year-old northeastern tribal face of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had accused the collegium system through which the judges to the higher and apex court are appointed.
Rijiju had reportedly slammed the collegium system as “alien” to the constitution. He also raised the issue of nepotism and called several former judges “anti-India”, which evoked strong responses from the judicial fraternity.
After being the MoS for home, minority affairs and youth affairs and sports (independent charge), Rijiju was promoted to the Cabinet minister’s rank as the law minister in 2021.
Meghwal, who hails from Rajasthan’s Bikaner is a crucial choice for the BJP. Although the 70-year-old joined politics after a career in civil services only in 2009, he had been the party’s chief whip in the Lok Sabha.
Like Rijiju, Meghwal has also handled diverse portfolios as an MoS. Before becoming the MoS for the law ministry, he had been an MoS of the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises (2019-21), the Ministry of Finance and Corporate Affairs (2016-17) and the Ministry of Water Resources (2016-17).
While Prime Minister Modi-led Cabinet decided to transfer Rijiju to save its face and avoid any confrontation with the judiciary, political observers believe that allocating an extra portfolio to Meghwal is done eyeing the BJP’s electoral prospects in the forthcoming Rajasthan Assembly elections.
