Vijay Sampla, the emerging Dalit leader in PM Narendra Modi's Cabinet

By ​Vinay Sharma

CHANDIGARH: From a labourer in Jalandhar, to a plumber in Saudi Arabia and now a Union minister of state, Vijay Sampla’s life has been quite a roller coaster. 52-year-old Sampla was born in a poor Dalit family. Financial difficulties following his father’s death forced Sampla, who was then 14, to work as a labourer in Jalandhar. In 1992, he moved to Saudi Arabia to work as an assistant plumber until 1997.

Vijay Sampla’s political journey began soon after he returned from Saudi Arabia. In 1998, he was elected sarpanch (headman) of Jalandhar’s Sofi village. This was the time when Narendra Modi was BJP’s Punjab affairs in charge. Sampla, who was denied a party nomination for the 2012 Punjab assembly elections, contested and won the Lok Sabha election this year from Hoshiarpur reserved seat. He defeated Congress leader Mohinder Singh Kaypee. The fact that PM Modi preferred Sampla in his council of ministers over a seemingly stronger candidate from Punjab — Gurdaspur MP Vinod Khanna — speaks of the clout he wields in the Modi team.

By choosing an emerging Dalit leader (Sampla belongs to the Ravidassia sect of Doaba region), Modi has underscored the BJP’s strategy for the next assembly elections in Punjab—that the party aims to win over the Dalits, who constitute 32% of the state’s 2.77 crore population. The dominant Ravidassias have a considerable hold in more than 11 assembly constituencies of the state.

On Sunday, Sampla sounded wary of the SAD-BJP alliance. “BJP senior leaders have been taking feedback from us on the SAD-BJP alliance,” Sampla told ET over the phone soon after taking the oath. “A lot will depend how it addresses the issues of our workers. Our leaders have already indicated that if Haryana-like situation develops, we may go alone.”