The BJP’s Arjun Ram Meghwal, who was Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Law and Justice in the outgoing Narendra Modi government, took oath as Union minister in the new government on Sunday. A defining image of Meghwal dates back to 2015, when as the BJP’s Chief Whip in the Lok Sabha, he would cycle to Parliament in his trademark Rajasthani turban, kurta-pyjama and a sleeveless jacket. A banner on his cycle, with the BJP’s colours in the background, would proclaim that he is the MP from Bikaner. This helped lend Meghwal an image of simplicity. The 70-year-old, who is a post-graduate in Political Science and also has law and MBA degrees, was a Rajasthan Administrative Services officer before being promoted to the IAS. Ahead of the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, Meghwal took voluntary retirement to contest from the Bikaner parliamentary constituency on a BJP ticket. It was his run-ins with the Congress party that prompted Meghwal to take up politics. During the 2008 Assembly elections, he was transferred from Churu as Collector after the Congress alleged that he was hand in glove with the BJP. After Congress formed the government in December 2008, Meghwal was transferred four times in as many months. Prior to the 2009 LS elections, the Bikaner seat was held by actor Dharmendra. But in 2009, it was declared an SC-reserved seat following delimitation, and the BJP invited Meghwal to contest. While the Congress’s Rewat Ram Panwar seemed to have an edge as a former MLA, Meghwal won by almost 20,000 votes. By 2010, Meghwal had made it to the BJP’s National Executive and was named the vice-president of the party’s Rajasthan unit. In 2012, he moved a Private Member’s Bill against the Delhi High Court order decriminalising homosexuality. In 2013, he was given the Best Parliamentarian award under the UPA government. Ahead of the 2014 elections, Meghwal’s prominence grew after he took on Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra over alleged illegal land deals in Bikaner. While the BJP came to power at the Centre that year, Meghwal too had a big win, defeating the Congress’s Shankar Pannu by a margin of over three lakh votes. He was then made the BJP Chief Whip in the Lok Sabha. In 2016, Meghwal made his entry into Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Council of Ministers – as MoS, Finance and Corporate Affairs – with the BJP seeking to balance caste equations in Rajasthan after dropping Ganganagar MP Nihal Chand Meghwal as MoS in the Panchayati Raj ministry. Ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Meghwal faced stiff competition from the party and also within his family. Claiming that Meghwal was working against the BJP and dividing people along caste lines, seven-time MLA and Bikaner heavyweight Devi Singh Bhati resigned from the BJP and campaigned against Meghwal. The other challenger to Meghwal was his cousin, Madan Gopal Meghwal – an IPS officer who also took voluntary retirement to enter politics – who was fielded opposite him by the Congress. But Meghwal defeated Madan by over 2.6 lakh votes. As MoS in the Ministry of Culture, Meghwal made a strong pitch for declaration of the Mangarh hill in Rajasthan — where 1,500 Bhil tribal freedom fighters died in a clash with the British army on November 17, 1913 – as a monument of national importance. It is yet to be declared so. In May last year, Meghwal replaced Kiren Rijiju as the Union Minister for Law and Justice. The replacement of Rijiju, who was allotted the Earth Sciences Ministry, with Meghwal assumed significance in the backdrop of the growing instances of friction between the Supreme Court and the Union government. Unlike Rijiju, who often chose the hawkish line even on delicate subjects such as judiciary, Meghwal was seen as a low-profile, dedicated party man, who enjoys Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s confidence. Meghwal’s appointment also came ahead of the Assembly polls in Rajasthan, his home state. Considered one of BJP’s Scheduled Caste (SC) faces in the state, his appointment to the high-profile job helped consolidate the party’s support base among the community. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Megwhal defeated Congress’s Govindram Meghwal by margin of just 55,000 votes, down from over 2.6 lakhs in 2019. While he has kept away from controversies, he stirred one after the 2019 Pulwama attack when he said that India will stop the water of three eastern rivers flowing into Pakistan, saying the water would be used by either Punjab or Rajasthan. In July 2020, amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Meghwal was panned for claiming that “Bhabhaji papad” could help create antibodies needed against Covid. As Chief Whip earlier and later as MoS of Parliamentary Affairs, Meghwal has been at the forefront of handling floor management for the BJP in the Lok Sabha. While the last few House sessions of the second Modi government were marked with acrimony and continuous disruptions, with legislation being passed without discussion, Meghwal personally has not invited any criticism.
