Bureaucrat-turned-politician Meghwal replaces Rijiju as law minister

The Narendra Modi government on Thursday removed Kiren Rijiju as the Union law minister, replacing him with Arjun Ram Meghwal.

During his 22-month tenure, Rijiju had frequent run-ins with the judiciary. He took on the Supreme Court, including the collegium system of appointing Supreme Court and high court judges and described it as “alien” to the Constitution. Sources said the government’s desire to reset its ties with the judiciary, with the Lok Sabha elections 10 months away, could have spurred it to divest Rijiju of the law portfolio.

Rijiju, who proposed the political resolution at the BJP’s national executive meeting in January, signalling his growing stature in the party, was shifted to the low-profile earth sciences ministry, earlier held by Jitendra Singh. Rijiju’s surprise transfer was followed by the Rashtrapati Bhavan issuing another communique that said S P Singh Baghel, the minister of state for law, was being moved to the health and family welfare ministry.

Meghwal, 69, the BJP’s Dalit face from Rajasthan and a bureaucrat-turned-politician, assumed charge as the Union law minister on Thursday afternoon. Soon after taking over his new portfolio, Meghwal said there was no confrontation with the judiciary. “The executive and the judiciary have a cordial relationship, which will stay cordial and constitutional. The boundaries are already there,” he told reporters.

Meghwal is the minister of state (independent charge) for the law ministry and remains MoS, parliamentary affairs and culture ministries. Meghwal’s elevation, a three-term Lok Sabha MP from Bikaner, comes with the Rajasthan assembly election slated for later this year. Apart from bringing the government’s relations with the higher judiciary to an even keel, Meghwal could also convey more persuasively the government’s views on issues such as same-sex marriage.

In March, Rijiju received flak from some retired judges when he dubbed them as part of “anti-India” forces. “It has been a privilege and an honour to serve as Union Minister of Law and Justice under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji,” Rijiju tweeted, thanking Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, all judges of the Supreme Court, Chief Justices and judges of high courts, lower judiciary and law officers for the “huge support” in ensuring the ease of justice and providing legal services for citizens.

Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi speculated whether the recent Supreme Court judgment on Maharashtra caused Rijiju’s removal. “Is it because of the Maharashtra judgement embarrassment? Or the Modani-SEBI investigation?” Chaturvedi asked in a tweet.