Why SIT summons to Vijay Sampla is about more than just 2015 sacrilege probe

Sampla was first summoned on June 20, while asked to appear before the SIT at the Punjab Armed Police (PAP) complex in Jalandhar on June 23. According to him, there was confusion over where his statement was to be recorded; only after several calls to senior officers was he directed to the investigating team.

The SIT also told Sampla that he will be questioned regarding a memorandum submitted to the Punjab Governor on November 12, 2018. He sought the documents, including a copy of the memorandum, based on which he was to be questioned.

However, the officers present did not provide the document. Sampla said that without seeing any document, he could not provide a justified reply and left.

A few days later, he received another summons directing him to appear before the SIT on June 28. Sampla did not join the investigation on the second date, and insisted on seeing the documents first.

Later that day, Model Town police station in Hoshiarpur recorded a Daily Diary Report (DDR) noting his absence. Ironically, the DDR itself has now become part of the political controversy.

While the original summons allegedly referred to a memorandum dated November 12, 2018, the DDR records that the SIT wanted to question Sampla regarding a memorandum submitted on January 12, 2018. Both, however, are linked to the investigation into the 2015 sacrilege cases.

For Sampla, the appearance of different dates is central to his argument. “The SIT itself is not clear about what exactly it wants to question me on. If the basis of the summons keeps changing, how can I give a proper statement?” he said.

He also questioned why the investigating agency was unwilling to provide the document that forms the basis of its questioning. “If I am being summoned because of a memorandum, why can’t they provide me that memorandum?”
Sampla’s larger political argument goes beyond procedural inconsistencies.

In 2018, when the alleged memorandum was submitted, the BJP and SAD were coalition partners in Punjab.

Representations to the Governor on issues were usually made jointly by leaders of both parties. “If there was a memorandum, leaders from both parties would have been there. Why am I alone being questioned after all these years?”
Sampla has also linked the timing of the summons to the recent political controversy surrounding Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann over the alleged sacrilege videos. The summons were intended to divert public attention from an issue that had become politically uncomfortable, he alleged.

The Punjab government has consistently maintained that the sacrilege investigation is proceeding independently and that the SIT is carrying out its legal mandate. SIT officials have, however, remained silent on the reasons for summoning Sampla. Yet, political observers believe the summons cannot be viewed in isolation from Punjab’s changing electoral scenario.

If the investigation has acquired political significance, it is because of who Vijay Sampla represents in Punjab politics.

A former Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, former Punjab BJP president and former chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, Sampla remains one of the BJP’s most recognisable Dalit leaders in the state. He was also Punjab BJP’s first Dalit MP and the party’s first Dalit sarpanch from the Doaba region.

An RSS activist, he had earlier served as chairman of the Punjab Khadi and Village Industries Board, and vice-chairman of the Punjab State Forest Development Corporation.

His influence is visible within the Ravidassia community in the Doaba region, which has the highest concentration of SC voters in the state.

Sampla’s journey has strengthened that image. Born into a modest Dalit family in Sofi Pind near Jalandhar, he lost his father at the age of 14 and worked as a labourer before spending several years in Gulf countries as a plumber’s assistant. After returning to Punjab, he started a cement business, joined the BJP in 1998 and entered electoral politics by becoming sarpanch of his village. He later emerged as a prominent Dalit voice during the 2003 Talhan gurdwara dispute, when he strongly backed the demand for greater representation of Dalits in the shrine’s management.

This background assumes greater political significance after the BJP has decided to contest the 2027 Assembly elections independently following the collapse of its alliance with the SAD.

Without the SAD’s traditional rural-Sikh support base, the BJP has been attempting to expand beyond its urban-Hindu vote by strengthening its outreach among Dalit communities, especially in Doaba.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has repeatedly invoked Guru Ravidas’ legacy; he had visited Dera Sach Khand Ballan in Jalandhar earlier this year to mark Guru Ravidas Jayanti and also visited places associated with the saint in Varanasi. The Centre has named Adampur airport after Guru Ravidas, while Dera Sach Khand Ballan chief Sant Niranjan Dass was conferred the Padma Shri.

Today, any action involving Sampla is unlikely to be viewed merely through a legal lens. His supporters see him not just as a former Union minister but as one of the BJP’s principal Dalit faces at a time when the party is investing heavily in expanding its social coalition.

“Whether the SIT’s summons eventually lead to any substantive findings remains to be seen. Politically, however, the exercise has already generated two competing narratives. For the AAP government, it demonstrates that the investigation into one of Punjab’s most politically consequential cases continues irrespective of the passage of time. For the BJP, it reinforces a claim that one of its key Dalit leaders is being selectively targeted at a politically significant moment,” said a senior BJP leader requesting anonymity.

“Despite being presented as a procedural step in an old investigation, these summons have become part of Punjab’s evolving political contest as much as its unresolved legal history,” said a senior AAP leader.