Vijay Sampla

{{short description|Indian politician}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2015}}

{{Use Indian English|date=December 2015}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Vijay Sampla

| image =The Minister of State for Social Justice & Empowerment, Shri Vijay Sampla addressing at the “International Conference on Bodhi Dharma and Zen Buddhism”, in New Delhi on November 20, 2015.jpg

| caption =

| birth_date ={{Birth date and age|1961|7|6|df=y}}

| birth_place = Sofi, Punjab, India{{cite news|title=Sampla has been a low-profile leader who started his political journey from being a sarpanch of his native village Sofi Pind near Jalandhar.|url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/punjab/jalandhar/rss-backing-proximity-to-rajnath-gets-sampla-berth/article1-1283694.aspx|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150109081637/http://www.hindustantimes.com/punjab/jalandhar/rss-backing-proximity-to-rajnath-gets-sampla-berth/article1-1283694.aspx|url-status=dead|archive-date=9 January 2015}}

| residence = 635A, Dilbagh Nagar Extension, Jalandhar, Punjab{{Cite web|url=http://myneta.info/ls2014/candidate.php?candidate_id=101|title=Vijay Sampla(Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP)):Constituency- HOSHIARPUR(PUNJAB) - Affidavit Information of Candidate|website=myneta.info}}

| death_date =

| death_place =

| constituency2 = Hoshiarpur

| office = Chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes

| termstart = 18 February 2021

| termend = 18 July 2023

| predecessor = Ram Shankar Katheria

| successor = Kishor Makwana

| office2 = Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment{{Cite web|url=http://socialjustice.nic.in/ministerofstate.php|title=Shri Vijay Sampla -Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment}}

| term_start2 = 9 November 2014

|term_end2 = 24 May 2019

| predecessor2 = Porika Naik Balram

| successor2 =

| party =Bharatiya Janata Party

| spouse = Sudesh Sampla{{Cite web|url=https://www.elections.in/political-leaders/shri-vijay-sampla.html|title=Shri Vijay Sampla Biography - About family, political life, awards won, history|website=www.elections.in}}

| children = 2

| website =

| footnotes =

| date = May

| year = 2019

| source =

}}

Vijay Sampla (born 6 July 1961) is an Indian politician and former chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes from 2021 to 2023.{{cite news |last1=P |first1=Neelam |title=Govt clears former Punjab BJP MP Vijay Sampla's name as Scheduled Castes panel head |url=https://theprint.in/india/govt-clears-former-punjab-bjp-mp-vijay-samplas-name-as-scheduled-castes-panel-head/598742/ |access-date=21 February 2021 |work=ThePrint |date=4 February 2021}}{{cite news |last1=Mangal |first1=Gitanjali |title=BJP appoints new chairman of National Commission for Scheduled Castes |url=https://www.ptcnews.tv/bjp-appoints-new-chairman-of-national-commission-for-scheduled-castes-en/ |access-date=21 February 2021 |work=PTC NEWS |date=5 February 2021}} 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.{{cite web|title=Constituencywise-All Candidates|url=http://eciresults.nic.in/ConstituencywiseS195.htm?ac=5|access-date=17 May 2014}}{{cite news|title=BJP's Vijay Sampla faces opposition from his own partymen|url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/punjab/jalandhar/bjp-s-vijay-sampla-faces-opposition-from-his-own-partymen/article1-1197231.aspx?hts0021|archive-url=https://archive.today/20150112014142/http://www.hindustantimes.com/punjab/jalandhar/bjp-s-vijay-sampla-faces-opposition-from-his-own-partymen/article1-1197231.aspx?hts0021|url-status=dead|archive-date=12 January 2015}} He did not contest the 2019 elections.

Sampla, a leader from Punjab, has worked as a farm hand, a labourer and a plumber earlier in his life.{{cite news |last1=Ghosh |first1=Deepika |title=Vijay Sampla, Once a Plumber, Now a Minister in the Modi Government |url=https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/vijay-sampla-once-a-plumber-now-a-minister-in-the-modi-government-691118 |access-date=21 January 2021 |work=NDTV.com |date=10 November 2014}}

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).{{cite news|title=In 1998, by being elected sarpanch of Sofi village, he became the first Dalit sarpanch of the BJP from Doaba.|url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/punjab/jalandhar/rss-backing-proximity-to-rajnath-gets-sampla-berth/article1-1283694.aspx|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150109081637/http://www.hindustantimes.com/punjab/jalandhar/rss-backing-proximity-to-rajnath-gets-sampla-berth/article1-1283694.aspx|url-status=dead|archive-date=9 January 2015}} He had held several key posts in the BJP's Punjab unit.

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.{{cite news |last1=Dua |first1=Rohan |title=Sampla's success story: Plumber to minister|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/Samplas-success-story-Plumber-to-minister/articleshow/45092216.cms |access-date=21 January 2021 |work=The Times of India |date=10 November 2014 |language=en}}

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.