Rags to riches: Once a rag picker, BJP's Rajesh Kalia is now Chandigarh mayor

Meet Rajesh Kalia (46), the new Mayor of Chandigarh, who was elected after 16 out of 27 votes were polled in his favour at an election held on Saturday (January 19). Rajesh Kalia, who belongs to the Valmiki community, once worked as a rag picker to support his family. Kalia says he is not ashamed of this.

His father Kundan Lal retired as a sweeper. One of his brothers still works as a sweeper. The struggle of his community and his family's financial condition forced him to take up the work of a rag picker so that he could support the family.

"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 that I worked as a rag picker. That is the harsh reality of my life," said Rajesh Kalia, who says he has no idea what his salary would be as Chandigarh mayor.

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Rajesh Kalia hails from Ahulana village of Haryana's Sonipat district. He shifted to Chandigarh in 1977, pitched a shanty and collected garbage with his siblings. He recalls how they were discriminated as they are from a lower caste.

Rajesh Kalia's father Kundan Lal said, "My son is very hard working. I have told him to work for the common people and make Chandigarh clean."

Rajesh Kalia's three daughters are proud of their father’s victory in the elections. One of his daughters, Nisha who is a second-year BBA student, says her father worked hard to look after the family.

"I have seen our father doing numerous jobs like driving an auto rickshaw or even picking up rags. We are proud of him," Nisha said.

Rajesh represents ward number 7 of Chandigarh Municipal Corporation and had won his second election in 2016. He could not study beyond Class 12 but wants his daughters to pursue higher education.

He is also an RSS activist and had steered the garbage collector's agitation last year after the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation decided to handover the garbage collection work to a private agency.

The biggest challenge before Rajesh Kalia as a Chandigarh's new mayor is to make Chandigarh the cleanest city in India. At present, Chandigarh is placed at the third position in the Swachh Survekshan rankings of the central government.

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