Former J&K Governor Satyapal Malik passes away

Satypal Malik, who served as governor of four states in five years from 2017 to 2022, and was often in the news for his controversial remarks, passed away on Tuesday. Known as a farmer leader, the 79-year-old began his political journey in Bharatiya Kranti Dal and served as MLA in Uttar Pradesh in the 1970s. He got elected twice to the Rajya Sabha and then to the Lok Sabha.

After a long stint with the parties across the political spectrum barring the Left, Malik joined the BJP and contested the 2004 Lok Sabha elections from Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh. A prominent farmer leader who enjoyed wide support in his Jat community, Malik was often fielded by BJP to reach out to the voters in western UP between 2004 and 2014 when the party was in the Opposition. In 2012, he was appointed as one of the national Vice Presidents of BJP.

Under the Narendra Modi-led NDA government that was formed in 2014, Malik was appointed governor of Bihar in September 2017. In less than a year, he was moved to the Jammu and Kashmir Raj Bhavan in August 2018. The abrogation of Article 370 that gave special status to J&K was done during his governorship on August 5, 2019. Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh were made Union Territories and Malik served as Lieutenant Governor till October when he was made Governor of Goa. In August 2020, he was moved to Meghalaya.


Malik was often in the thick of controversies due to his outspoken remarks. As governor of Goa he said governors usually have no real work and are known playing golf and sipping wine. After his stint as governor ended in 2022, he made several bitter remarks against Prime Minister Modi on the Pulwama terror attack of February 2019. He had several conspiracy theories about the blast that killed 40 soldiers.

Malik had been ailing for some months and passed away at the Ram Manohar Lohia hospital in the national capital.

Malik became an MLA in 1974 from Baghpat in UP from Charan Singh-led Bharatiya Kranti Dal. He was elected to Rajya Sabha for two terms in 1980 and 1986 but quit in 1989 during his second term to become a Lok Sabha member from Aligarh. His term in the Lower House ended in 1991 when the next general elections were held.

A party hopper, Malik was with BKD, Janata Dal, Congress, Lok Dal, Samajwadi Party and BJP at different points in his long career.