The Union government, in a cabinet reshuffle, announced on May 18 that Kiren Rijiju, recognised for his controversial remarks against the Supreme Court and higher judiciary, has been replaced by Arjun Ram Meghwal as the Union Law Minister. Meghwal belongs to the Dalit community and was elected from Bikaner in 2009 and then again in 2014.
He is holds an LLB degree and is a former IAS officer. Political speculation around his new appointment centres on his representation from a Scheduled Caste seat from Rajasthan, a state that goes to the polls at the end of the year. He is also one of the prominent faces in the state from the Dalit community.
Making his stand against independent gender orientation and homosexuality clear. Meghwal had, in 2012, introduced a Private Member Bill in the Lok Sabha to retain section 377 in the Indian Penal Code as an offence after the Delhi High Court had decided to decriminalise it. During the pandemic, in July 2020, Meghwal had promoted ‘Bhabhiji Papad’ saying it contains ingredients that can create antibodies to fight the coronavirus.
It is believed that Rijiju’s constant war of words with the judiciary without any resolution did not sit well with the higher echelons. Further a perception that the government was trying to overrule the judiciary was not helping the union government.
As per information collated by The Quint, Meghwal, in 2018 had claimed that the mob lynchings of Muslims by mobsters on the accusations of cow smuggling was a conspiracy against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity. This statement was made following the murder of Akbar Khan in Alwar, Rajasthan.
He has pretty much been a low key politician and it remains to see how he will handle this important portfolio which has been more or less tainted by Rijiju and his adverse comments against the judiciary.
Rijiju had spoken over and over again about his reservations about the collegium system as it stands today. In July 2022, during the monsoon session of the Parliament, Rijiju had said that the government cannot just sign off on recommendations blindly and needs to conduct background checks and disapprove those which do not meet the laid out grounds.
On September 17, 2022, again, while speaking at an event in Udaipur, Rajasthan, RIjiju had said there was a need to rethink the collegium system to expedite the process of appointments to the higher judiciary and also blamed the collegium system for pending appointments in the higher judiciary. “If we follow the spirit of the Constitution, appointing judges is the task of the government. Secondly, there is no practice anywhere in the world except in India that judges appoint judges themselves… People can see the politics among the leaders but they do not know the politics going on inside the judiciary while appointing judges as the deliberations are intense,” he had commented.
Speaking at the India Today Conclave, Union Law Minister, Kiren Rijiju on November 5, 2022, had made some strong remarks against the Collegium system, calling it ‘opaque’ and lacking accountability. He said his government is making the most of the present system till an alternative mechanism is put in place.
In his place, comes Arjun Meghwal a known Dalit face from Rajasthan, a state awaiting the 2023 state assembly elections.
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