NEW DELHI: Satya Pal Malik, a seasoned politician who traversed India’s political spectrum from the Lok Dal to Congress to the BJP, and later emerged as a fierce critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, passed away on Tuesday at 1.12 PM at Delhi’s Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital. He was 79. He had been undergoing treatment for kidney and age-related ailments. Once a trusted aide of PM Modi—holding gubernatorial posts in Bihar, J&K, Goa, Odisha, and Meghalaya—Malik’s final years were defined by his outspoken dissent. He criticised the government over the handling of the 2019 Pulwama attack, the farmers’ protest, and alleged corruption during his tenure as J&K Governor. Later, the CBI chargesheeted him in a bribery case linked to Rs 2,200 crore Kiru hydropower project in Kashmir.Malik’s journey was as eventful as it was ideologically fluid. Born in Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh, into a Jat family, his political roots were in socialist movements. He began as a student leader and was elected MLA in 1974 on the Bharatiya Kranti Dal ticket led by Chaudhary Charan Singh. In 1980, he entered the Rajya Sabha as a Lok Dal member. By 1984, he had joined the Congress, which re-nominated him to the Rajya Sabha in 1986. He later aligned with Janata Dal and served as Lok Sabha MP from Aligarh.Despite his many political shifts, Malik remained a forceful voice on agrarian and regional issues, often taking on the powers that be. His political rise peaked when the Modi government appointed him as Bihar governor in 2017, later entrusting him with the politically sensitive state of Jammu & Kashmir in August 2018.His tenure in J&K was both historic and controversial. Malik was governor during the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019. Coincidentally, he died on the sixth anniversary of that move.He was also in office during the Pulwama attack that killed 40 CRPF personnel. Later, Malik accused the Centre of suppressing facts about lapses leading to the attack, including the denial of aircraft for troop movement. He claimed he was told to “stay silent”.Malik’s long career was marked by conviction, contradiction, and controversy.
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