Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made a minor reshuffle in his cabinet. Union Minister Kiren Rijiju has been removed from the post of Law Minister and assigned the responsibility of the Ministry of Earth Sciences, while the independent charge of his ministry has been given to Arjun Ram Meghwal. Meghwal was already serving as Minister of State in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Ministry of Culture. Now suddenly many political meanings are being extracted for the increase in his stature.
Who is Arjun Ram Meghwal?
Meghwal is currently an MP from Bikaner reserved seat in Rajasthan. After taking voluntary retirement from the Indian Administrative Service, he contested the Lok Sabha election from Bikaner for the first time in 2009 on a BJP ticket and won from there. After this, he has won from there in 2014 and 2019 as well. Meghwal was made the Minister of State for Finance in the Modi government in the year 2016. After this, he also worked as the Minister of State for Water Resources.
Meghwal holds a degree in law:
Meghwal, who did his BA, MA and LLB from Bikaner’s Government Dungar College, was made the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises in May 2019 in the second term of the Modi government. In 2021, he was made the Minister of State in the Ministry of Culture. Now he has been given independent charge of the Law Ministry. In a way, he will be the surveyor of this ministry. In this way, his stature has increased in the Modi government.
Rijiju is no longer the Law Minister, the department has changed; Arjun Meghwal now in charge
BJP’s target on Dalit voters on the pretext of Arjun:
Wearing a turban on his head and reaching Parliament on a bicycle, Meghwal is the Dalit face of the BJP in Rajasthan. He has also received the Best Parliamentarian Award in the year 2013. Assembly elections are going to be held in Rajasthan by the end of this year. Therefore, it is believed that by promoting Meghwal before that, the Modi government and the BJP have made a bet to help the Dalit voters in Rajasthan and to be Dalit-friendly among them.
How important is the Dalit vote bank in Rajasthan?
There are a total of 200 seats in the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly. Of these, 34 seats are reserved for the Scheduled Castes and 25 for the Scheduled Tribes. Dalit voters in Rajasthan have traditionally been the vote bank of the BJP. Talking about the last three assembly elections, statistics show that the party which has captured SC and ST seats, formed its government in Rajasthan.
According to the 2011 census data, Scheduled Castes (SC) constitute 17.83% of the total population and Scheduled Tribes (ST) constitute 13.48% of the total population in Rajasthan. That is, more than 31 percent of the population is Dalit voters. It is believed that by promoting Meghwal, the BJP has started trying to make inroads among the Dalit voters of Rajasthan.
Why the sudden cabinet reshuffle?
It is believed that this step has been taken after Kiren Rijiju’s growing tussle with the judiciary in the last few months and review of the functioning of the ministers. Apart from this, the results of the Karnataka assembly elections are also a major reason for this. BJP analyzed the Karnataka elections and found that the party lost there due to the shift of Dalit, backward and Lingayat voters to the Congress. Therefore, the party has started focusing on Dalit votes in the states with upcoming assembly elections.
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