Satya Pal Malik is an Indian politician. Malik served as the last Governor of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, from August 2018 to October 2019, and it was during his tenure that revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir was taken on 5 August 2019. Later he was moved to Goa as its 18th governor, and after that he served as the 21st Governor of Meghalaya until October 2022.

His first prominent stint as a politician was as a member of Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly during 1974–77. He represented Uttar Pradesh in Rajya Sabha from 1980 to 1986 and 1986–89. He was member of the 9th Lok Sabha from Aligarh, from 1989 to 1991, as member of Janata Dal. He was the Governor of Bihar from October 2017 to August 2018. On 21 March 2018 he was also given additional charge to serve as Governor of Odisha up to 28 May 2018. In August 2018, he was appointed Governor to the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Early life and education

Malik was born in Hisawada village of Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh in a Jat family. He pursued Bachelor of Science and LLB degrees from Meerut College. In 1968–69, Malik was elected as the students union president, commencing his political career.

Politics

Early state politics

Malik was first elected to any public office was as a member of legislative assembly from Baghpat after he successfully contested the election as member of Charan Singh's Bharatiya Kranti Dal. He won the election by receiving 42.4% of the votes cast and defeating his nearest rival Acharya Deepankar of the Communist party of India who got 31.6% of the total votes cast. Later, after the formation of Bharatiya Lok Dal, he joined the party and become the general secretary of Lok Dal.

National politics

1980–89 : Rajya Sabha Member from Uttar Pradesh
1989–91 : Member of Lok Sabha from Aligarh, on Janata Dal ticket
1996  : Lost Lok Sabha Election from Aligarh on SP ticket, came fourth with only 40,789 votes.
2012 : Appointed National Vice President of BJP

Governer of states

30 September 2017 – 21 August 2018 : Governor of Bihar
23 August 2018 – 30 October 2019 : Governor of Jammu and Kashmir
3 November 2019 – 18 August 2020 : Governor of Goa
18 August 2020 – 3 October 2022 : Governor of Meghalaya

Political views

Support for farmer's agitation

On 8 November 2021, Malik was invited to Global Jat Summit and in his speech, he warned the Indian government regarding the 2020–2021 Indian farmers' protest and said “you will not be able to overcome the Sikhs. The Guru's four children were slaughtered, but the Guru refused to surrender. You cannot defeat the Jats either.”

He also added, "Indira Gandhi knew that she would be killed and she was killed [for ordering Bluestar]. They killed General Vaidya in Pune [for leading Bluestar] and Michael O'Dwyer in London [Lieutenant Governor Of Punjab during Jallianwala Bagh massacre] .I have even said that don't test the patience of the Sikh community."

Views on pulwama attack and Narendra Modi

On 14 April 2023, in an interview to Karan Thapar, Malik gave his views on Pulwama attack and Narendra Modi.

1: Narendra Modi had no dislike for corruption and has taken no action against those alleged to be involved in corruption because they were close to him.
2: The former J&K governor had also made serious claims about mistakes that led to the Pulwama attack in 2019, including instructions by Modi and NSA Ajit Doval for him to stay quiet on the mistakes and that he “realised that all the onus of the attack will be put on Pakistan”.[18]
3: CRPF people (had) asked for aircraft to ferry their people because such a large convoy generally doesn’t travel by road,” Malik said, adding the request was made to the Home Ministry but “they refused to give”.
4: Malik also said that there was grave intelligence failure in the Pulwama incident because the car carrying 300 kilograms of RDX explosives had come from Pakistan but was travelling around the roads and villages of Jammu and Kashmir for 10-15 days without being detected and without anyone knowing.