New Delhi: Bureaucrat-turned-politician Arjun Ram Meghwal replaced Kiren Rijiju as the Minister of Law and Justice Thursday.
For Meghwal, who is also the minister of state for culture and parliamentary affairs, it has been a long journey — from qualifying for the state administrative services and being promoted to the Indian Administrative Services (IAS) to riding his bicycle to Parliament during his first stint as a Lok Sabha member in 2009 and going on to become the Union law minister.
But with Rajasthan elections to be held later this year, his elevation is being seen as the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) attempt at caste balancing — Meghwal is from the Dalit weaver community.
Rajasthan BJP general secretary Madan Dilawar told ThePrint over the phone that it wasn’t just his Dalit background that earned Meghwal a place in Rajasthan politics. “He knows every district machinery since he was in the state administrative services,” he said.
However, Dilawar added: “While he has influence over Dalit voters, his simple nature and willingness to help have earned him respect…In fact, then chief minister Vasundhara Raje got him the ticket for 2009 Lok Sabha elections while Rajendra Rathore, the current Leader of the Opposition in the assembly, recommended him.”
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Long services career
Born in Bikaner, Meghwal married at the age of 13. But he continued to study even as he worked alongside his father as a weaver. He graduated in law and also earned his master’s degree from Dungar College in Bikaner.
While preparing for competitive examinations, Meghwal found a telephone operator’s job at the Indian Post and Telegraph Department. His first brush with politics was being elected the general secretary of the telephone traffic association. Working there, he cleared the Rajasthan Administrative Service exam in his second attempt, a Rajasthan BJP leader told ThePrint.
He held several positions during his state service in the industry department — a notable one being the officer on special duty (OSD) to then state deputy chief minister Harishankar Bhabhra in 1994. He also served as the Churu district collector after his promotion to the IAS in 1999,.
After taking voluntary retirement from services, Meghwal fought his first Lok Sabha election from Bikaner in 2009, the leader added. He continued to win from his constituency till 2019, the year he defeated his cousin and Congress candidate Madan Gopal Meghwal by 2.64 lakh votes.
After the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP made him the chief whip, the BJP leader told ThePrint. Meghwal was inducted as minister of state for finance and corporate affairs in Arun Jaitley’s team. But, party sources say, he never became a power centre, never rubbed his seniors the wrong way.
That’s also how he worked with Uma Bharti in the water resources ministry as her deputy in 2016-18.
During his stint as the junior parliamentary affairs minister, Meghwal’s work was lauded by the PM several times during party meetings, BJP sources said.
Within the party, Amit Shah first made him in-charge of Puducherry in 2021 where Meghwal helped the BJP, as a part of the NDA alliance, come to power. However, his role got bigger in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections when he was made co-incharge of UP along with Dharmedra Pradhan and five other leaders. From Agra to the Dalit belt of UP, Meghwal was instrumental in mobilising Dalits for the party, holding sammelans and reaching out to local Dalit leaders.
Meghwal, though, has also courted controversy over his remarks on Pakistan. Following the Pulwama attack of 2019, media reports had quoted Meghwal as saying that India will stop the waters from three eastern rivers flowing into Pakistan. He added that the water would be used by Punjab or Rajasthan for drinking and irrigation.
In July 2020, during the pandemic, Meghwal found himself in the middle of a controversy again for reportedly promoting “unscientific claims”. Meghwal had said that the “Bhabhiji” brand of papad, produced under central government’s Aatmanirbhar Bharat agenda, could “create antibodies needed to fight Covid-19”. Just weeks after this statement, Meghwal had himself tested positive for Covid.
Dalits in Rajasthan
Out of the 200 assembly seats in Rajasthan, 33 are reserved. With 17.5 per cent population, according to the 2011 census, Dalits form a crucial vote bank in the state.
A state BJP MP said to ThePrint, “The party has kept Meghwal in the Cabinet to cater to the Dalit community, particularly Bairwas or Meghwals who are traditionally Congress voters.
“Among Dalits, the Koli community votes for the BJP. Among Khatiks and Valmikis, the vote is split 50-50 between the BJP and the Congress…The Congress had a seasoned Dalit leader in former state CM Jagannath Pahadia (Pahadia died of Covid in 2021)….”
“In the recently concluded Karnataka elections, the BJP lost all tribal seats, and a sizeable number of Dalit seats, so this is an effort to appease the Dalits before Rajasthan elections,” he said.
Another former state minister and Rajasthan MP said to ThePrint over the phone, “Although Meghwal doesn’t have a base among the masses in the state, his nature, his bond with Amit Shah and PM Modi, and his prior administrative experience contributed to his elevation which also has a symbolic value.”
He added, “Kailash Meghwal is the most prominent in the state leadership and has a wider appeal but since he is a Vasundhara loyalist, the party has propped another Meghwal.”
“Arjun Ram Meghwal won the last two elections on PM Modi’s name…even state leader Nihal Chand, who was removed in the Cabinet expansion during the first NDA government, has more influence than Meghwal…this goes to show his elevation is symbolic.”
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
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