A ‘Sweeping’ Success: BJP’s Rajesh Kalia, Who Once Cleaned Streets And Picked Rags, Is Now Chandigarh Mayor

Chandigarh’s Rajesh Kalia was elected Mayor on January 19 (Saturday) after 16 out of the 27 votes were polled in his favour.

Kalia belongs to the Valmiki community and was once a rag picker. His father retired as a sweeper, and one of his brothers still works as a sweeper.

"I used to work as a rag picker after school. My two brothers, four sisters and I, would collect rags from garbage mounds and sell it to support the family. I am not ashamed of my past. That is the harsh reality of my life," said Kalia, as per an India Today report.

Kalia shifted to Chandigarh in 1977, pitched a shanty and collected garbage with his siblings. He and his family were discriminated against as they were from a lower strata.

Rajesh’s three daughters are proud of his victory, and his father too was ecstatic at his election as Mayor. In Kalia’s praise, he said his son was a ‘hardworking man’.

Kalia is also a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) activist, and the biggest challenge ahead of him is to make Chandigarh India’s cleanest city.