Vijay Sampla

Vijay Sampla (born 6 July 1961) is an Indian politician and former chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes since 2021 to 2023.^[5][6] He is a former Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment in India from 2014 to 2019 and a former member of parliament from Hoshiarpur (Lok Sabha constituency). He won the 2014 Indian general election as a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate.^[7][8] He did not contest the 2019 elections. Sampla, a leader from Punjab, has worked as farm hand, labourer and plumber earlier in his life.^[9]

Vijay Sampla
Chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes
In office 18 February 2021 – 18 July 2023
Preceded by	Ram Shankar Katheria
Succeeded by	Kishor Makwana
Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment[1]
In office 9 November 2014 – 24 May 2019
Preceded by	Porika Naik Balram
Constituency	Hoshiarpur
Personal details
Born	(1961-07-06) 6 July 1961 (age 63) Sofi, Punjab, India[2]
Political party	Bharatiya Janata Party
Spouse	Sudesh Sampla[3]
Children	2
Residence(s)	635A, Dilbagh Nagar Extension, Jalandhar, Punjab[4]
As of May, 2019

Sampla, who studied till Class 10, joined the party in 1998. He was the second cabinet minister from Punjab after Akali Dal's Harsimrat Kaur Badal. His political journey began after he was elected the Sarpanch or head of his Sofi village (Jalandhar District).^[10] He had held several key posts in the BJP's Punjab unit.^[9]

When he was a 27-year-old bereaved dalit, Sampla was trying to find his feet against the oppressive landlords of Jalandhar's Sofi Pind. His brother and he were left to fend for themselves after their father's death and Sampla went off to Saudi Arabia in 1979 to work for a plumbing company.^[11]

On his swearing-in as BJP's first minister from Punjab in NDA-II, he said, "I often recall one incident that shaped my life. While I was in Saudi Arabian city of Damam, I was asked to clean human excreta and repair a bathroom. I was young and flatly refused to do the cleaning part while telling the building owner that I was a plumber. On my insistence, the man put on plastic gloves and cleaned the muck himself. It taught me the difference between oppression against dalits and the will to work", Sampla recalled.^[11]

References

1. "Shri Vijay Sampla -Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment".
2. "Sampla has been a low-profile leader who started his political journey from being a sarpanch of his native village Sofi Pind near Jalandhar". Archived from the original on 9 January 2015.
3. "Shri Vijay Sampla Biography - About family, political life, awards won, history". www.elections.in.
4. "Vijay Sampla(Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP)):Constituency- HOSHIARPUR(PUNJAB) - Affidavit Information of Candidate". myneta.info.
5. P, Neelam (4 February 2021). "Govt clears former Punjab BJP MP Vijay Sampla's name as Scheduled Castes panel head". ThePrint. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
6. Mangal, Gitanjali (5 February 2021). "BJP appoints new chairman of National Commission for Scheduled Castes". PTC NEWS. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
7. "Constituencywise-All Candidates". Retrieved 17 May 2014.
8. "BJP's Vijay Sampla faces opposition from his own partymen". Archived from the original on 12 January 2015.
9. Ghosh, Deepika (10 November 2014). "Vijay Sampla, Once a Plumber, Now a Minister in the Modi Government". NDTV.com. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
10. "In 1998, by being elected sarpanch of Sofi village, he became the first Dalit sarpanch of the BJP from Doaba". Archived from the original on 9 January 2015.
11. Dua, Rohan (10 November 2014). "Sampla's success story: Plumber to minister". The Times of India. Retrieved 21 January 2021.