Kiren Rijiju has been assigned the portfolio of Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. The 47-year old MP will also be MoS in the Ministry of Minority Affairs.
Considered the face of the BJP in the Northeast, Rijiju is a lawyer by qualification. Rijiju won the Lok Sabha Elections 2019 from the Arunachal West seat. This was his second consecutive win from this constituency.
At a time when the BJP was trying to gain stronghold in the Northeast, Rijiju was one of the aggressive campaigners for the party in the region.
Under Modi 1.0, he was the MoS for home affairs. During that time, Olympic silver medalist Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore was sports minister.
He had an early exposure to politics since his father was the first pro-term speaker of Arunachal Pradesh.
Rijiju has held posts in the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) from 2000-2005. Further, Rijiju was also an athlete in his school days and has participated in the National Games.
In the past, Kiren Rijiju has expressed concerns about the low performance of Indian sportspersons as well as governance issues.
He had pointed out that non-integration of sports with education at school and college levels, lack of support in terms of high-performance coaches were the key reasons behind the country's poor performance in competitive events.
Rijiju has also advocated the implementation of sports promotional schemes across the country to identify and promote sportspersons, including women, in the age group of 8-25 years. It is likely that he will drive the efforts of the Sports Authority of India in this endeavour.
In the Lok Sabha Elections, Rijiju defeated Congress candidate and former CM Nabam Tuki by a margin of 1,67,132 votes in the Arunachal West seat.
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