Tathagata Satpathy

Tathagata Satpathy was born on April 1, 1956, in Cuttack, Odisha, to Devendra Satpathy and Nandini Satpathy. He was educated at the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education in Pondicherry.⁠[1]

His mother, Nandini Satpathy, was a Chief Minister of Odisha.⁠[2]

The Odia-language daily Dharitri was launched on November 24, 1974, first published by Chandrika Mahapatra on behalf of the Samajwadi Society; it later came under the ownership of Nandini Satpathy and members of her family.⁠[3]

Dharitri says the paper’s original vision came from the literary figure Kalindi Charan Panigrahi and was nurtured by his daughter, Nandini Satpathy.⁠[4]

Dharitri switched to offset printing in 1986. The paper says its rise in the late 1980s and early 1990s came under the guidance of Tathagata Satpathy.⁠[4]

He joined the Janata Dal in 1989 and won the Dhenkanal Sadar seat in the Odisha Legislative Assembly in 1990. In 1998 he was first elected to the Lok Sabha from Dhenkanal, lost the seat in 1999, and later served as secretary general of Bijoy Mohapatra’s Odisha Gana Parishad.⁠[5]

He married Adyasha Satpathy on May 24, 1997.⁠[1]

In 1998 he was a member of the Indian parliamentary delegation to Turkey led by Lok Sabha Speaker G.M.C. Balayogi.⁠[1]

He joined the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) a month before the 2004 Lok Sabha election and won Dhenkanal in every election after that.⁠[5]

He was a member of the 12th, 14th, 15th and 16th Lok Sabha, serving between 1998 and 2019.⁠[6]

In September 2010 he announced plans for the English daily Orissa Post, saying there was a need for “a state grown daily which understands the needs of youngsters.”⁠[7]

On August 8, 2015, he received the “Editor of the Year” award at the first Orissa Media Award ceremony in Bhubaneswar, where he said: “The regional media has a greater role to play in the society.”⁠[8]

On December 10, 2015, as the BJD’s chief whip in the Lok Sabha, he called in Parliament for legalising cannabis consumption, arguing that the ban had fuelled alcoholism: “we have actually forced a lot of these people to move on to alcohol.”⁠[9]

On December 14, 2015, during the Lok Sabha debate on a bill allowing NPCIL to form tie-ups with other public sector undertakings, he said the world was moving away from nuclear power while India was moving into it, and questioned the government’s refusal to share reactor safety data.⁠[10]

On December 18, 2015, Shashi Tharoor’s motion on his bill on homosexuality was defeated in the Lok Sabha by 71 votes to 24; Satpathy supported the bill and called it “a very very sad day.”⁠[11]

On March 5, 2019, he announced that he was quitting politics to focus on journalism, saying “social leadership is lacking in this country.” He said his son wanted him to stay at home, focus on journalism and not contest elections: “My son was pressurising me.”⁠[2]

On March 6, 2019, BJD insiders said he had been uncomfortable in the party after his long-time media and political rival Soumya Ranjan Patnaik joined it, which may have led him to quit party politics.⁠[12]

In April 2023 he attended the inauguration of the BJD’s new office, Sankha Bhavan, at the request of party president Naveen Patnaik, prompting speculation about a comeback; he said: “I am not affiliated to any party and not willing to contest elections.”⁠[13]

As of March 2024 he was editor of OrissaPOST and Dharitri, and his wife, Adyasha Satpathy, was chief executive of both papers.⁠[14]

On October 26, 2024, as president of the Press Club of Odisha, he gave the welcome address at an Editors Guild of India conclave on regional media held at the club, saying: “There is no national media. For that reason, there is also no national leader.”⁠[15]

Personal website: Public link: https://tathagatasatpathy.com/site (opens in a new window)⁠[6]

X: Public account: https://x.com/SatpathyLive (opens in a new window)⁠[6]

Dharitri: Official website: https://www.dharitri.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[4]

OrissaPOST: Official website: https://www.orissapost.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[14]