India, New Delhi: Satyapal Malik, who used to be the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, died on Monday at the age of 79. According to his personal secretary, KS Rana, Malik died at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in New Delhi after a prolonged illness related to kidney complications.
Malik had been getting treatment for a few weeks. In June, he wrote on social media site X about his “serious” health problems and how he had to go to the hospital because of kidney problems.
Satyapal Malik was born in 1946 in Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh. He was a career politician with a lengthy and diversified career. He started out in politics as a student leader and was later elected to both the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha as a Member of Parliament. He held significant positions in multiple political parties, including the Bharatiya Kranti Dal, the Indian National Congress, Janata Dal, and finally, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
He became Governor of Bihar in 2017, which marked the start of his tenure as a governor. From August 2018 to October 2019, he was the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir. During his time in Jammu and Kashmir, something very important happened: on August 5, 2019, the state’s special status under Article 370 was taken away. He was Governor of Goa and Meghalaya after leaving Jammu and Kashmir. He retired from his last job in 2022.
People knew Malik for being outspoken, and in his final years, he spoke out against the federal government on a number of subjects, such as the 2019 Pulwama incident and the farmers’ protest. His death ends a long and busy career in Indian politics.