Satya Pal Malik dies at 79: All about J&K's last governor who oversaw historic abrogation of Article 370

Malik was admitted to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital on May 11 and was on dialysis

Former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik died on Tuesday at the age of 79 after a prolonged illness.

According to reports, Malik was admitted to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital on May 11 and was on dialysis. His mortal remains will be taken to his residence in R K Puram and the cremation will be held on Wednesday at Lodhi crematorium.

In May 2025, Malik had shared a photo of himself from a hospital bed, saying his health was “very bad”.

Who was Satya Pal Malik?

Born in Uttar Pradesh, Malik began his political career with the Bharatiya Kranti Dal and later joined the Janata Dal and the BJP. According to Indian Express, he completed his BSc and LLB from Meerut University and held a diploma in Parliamentary Affairs from Institute of Constitutional and Parliamentary Studies run by Parliament of India

Malik’s political journey spanned decades, marked by his tenure as Governor of Jammu & Kashmir, Bihar, Goa, and Meghalaya. He was the governor of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir from August 2018 to October 2019.

It was during his tenure that Article 370 was abrogated and the special status of the state of Jammu and Kashmir was revoked on 5 August 2019.

Malik reportedly entered active politics in 1965-66, inspired by the socialist ideology of Dr Ram Manohar Lohia.

He was also a Rajya Sabha MP for two terms and a Lok Sabha MP from 1989 to 1990. Malik was also a Member of Uttar Pradesh Assembly from 1974 to 1977. In his political career, he has also been the Chairman and member of many Parliamentary Committees. In the wake of the Bofors scam, he resigned from the Congress in 1987 and joined V P Singh.

In 2023, Malik’s comments about the 2019 Pulwama attack triggered a political storm. During an interview with The Wire, Malik claimed that security lapses led to the Pulwama attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed. Malik also alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is "ill-informed" about the Jammu and Kashmir region.

In January 2022, Malik had attacked the PM in a speech at Dadri in western UP over the farmers’ protests. “When I went to meet the PM to discuss the issue, I ended up fighting with him within five minutes. He was very arrogant. When I told him that 500 of our own (farmers) had died… he said, ‘Did they die for me?’,” he was heard saying in a video clip from the function.

In May 2025, he strongly denied the allegations levelled against him in a chargesheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the Kiru hydroelectric power project. The 624 MW Kiru hydroelectric power project is a run-of-the-river scheme on the Chenab River in Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir.