Tathagata Satpathy (born 1 April 1956) was a member of the 12th, 14th, 15th and

16th Lok Sabha Members of the 16th Lok Sabha were elected during the 2014 Indian general election. The elections were conducted in 9 phases from 7 April 2014 to 12 May 2014 by the Election Commission of India. The results of the election were declared on 16 M ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. He represented the

Dhenkanal Dhenkanal is a town and a municipality in Dhenkanal district in the state of Odisha, India. Geography Dhenkanal is at . It has an average elevation of 80 metres (262 feet). Demographics As per the 2011 India census, Dhenkanal had a p ...

constituency of

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

, and was re-elected for the fourth time in 2014. He was a member of the

Biju Janata Dal The Biju Janata Dal (; BJD) is a regional political party in the Indian state of Odisha founded and led by Naveen Patnaik, the current Chief Minister of Odisha and the son of former Chief Minister of Odisha Biju Patnaik, after whom the party i ...

( BJD) political party, and the party's

chief whip The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes. United Kingdom ...

in the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...

. He took voluntary retirement from politics in March 2019. He is not an active politician ever since.

Life and work

Tathagata Satpathy is the younger son of former

Chief Minister

Nandini Satpathy Nandini Satpathy (9 June 1931 – 4 August 2006) was an Indian politician and author. She was the List of Chief Ministers of Odisha, Chief Minister of Odisha from June 1972 to December 1976. Early life Nandini Satpathy nee Panigrahi was bo ...

and Devendra Satpathy. He is the owner and editor of the daily

Odia Odia, also spelled Oriya or Odiya, may refer to: * Odia people in Odisha, India * Odia language, an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family * Odia alphabet, a writing system used for the Odia languag ...

newspaper, '' Dharitri'', and the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

daily, ''

Orissa Post ''Dharitri'' () () is an Indian daily newspaper published in the Odia language from the capital city of Bhubaneswar. The newspaper was founded on 24 November 1974 by the Samajbadi Society in Bhubaneswar. Orissa Post ''Orissa Post'' is an Ind ...

''. In 2000, Satpathy joined the

Orissa Gana Parishad The Odisha Gana Parishad (''Odisha Popular Association''), was an Indian political party in the Indian state of Odisha, a splinter group of Biju Janata Dal. The party was founded on October 29, 2000. The president of OGP was Bijoy Mohapatra. Mah ...

(a non political outfit), and served as its secretary general. After

Naveen Patnaik Naveen Patnaik (born 16 October 1946) is an Indian politician serving as the current and 14th Chief Minister of Odisha. He is also the president of the Biju Janata Dal, a writer and has authored three books. He is the longest-serving chief min ...

got elected in 2000, Satpathy had used his newspaper Dharitri to criticise his policies which he does even now. In March 2004, just before the

2004 Indian general election General elections were held in India in four phases between 20 April and 10 May 2004. Over 670 million people were eligible to vote, electing 543 members of the 14th Lok Sabha. Seven states also held assembly elections to elect state governm ...

, Satpathy reconciled with BJD. He said that he was forced to quit OGP due its changing into a political party as also forming an alliance with

Janaki Ballabh Patnaik Janaki Ballabh Patnaik (3 January 1927 – 21 April 2015) was an Indian politician who had been Governor of Assam from 2009 to 2014. A leader of the Indian National Congress, he was Chief Minister of Odisha from 1980 to 1989 and again from 1995 ...

-led

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

(

INC Inc. or inc may refer to: * Incorporation (business), as a suffix indicating a corporation * ''Inc.'' (magazine), an American business magazine * Inc. No World, a Los Angeles-based band * Indian National Congress, a political party in India * I ...

). His nephew

Suparno Satpathy Suparno Satpathy is a socio-political leader from the state of Odisha. He is the great-grandson of Kalindi Charan Panigrahi and the grandson of Nandini Satpathy. He is the Chairman of Smt. Nandini Satpathy Memorial Trust (SNSMT), a leading non- ...

had unsuccessfully contested him in 2014 for the office of MP

. In March 2015, Tathagata Satpathy became the first Indian

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

to hold an official "Ask Me Anything" session on the content-sharing website

Reddit Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, images ...

. In April, Satpathy came forward in support of

net neutrality Network neutrality, often referred to as net neutrality, is the principle that Internet service providers (ISPs) must treat all Internet communications equally, offering users and online content providers consistent rates irrespective of co ...

, after the

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is a regulatory body set up by the Government of India under section 3 of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997. It is the regulator of the telecommunications sector in India. ...

(TRAI) come out with a consultation paper on

over-the-top An over-the-top (OTT) media service is a media service offered directly to viewers via the Internet. OTT bypasses cable, broadcast, and satellite television platforms: the types of companies that traditionally act as controllers or distributors ...

(OTT) messaging services. In December 2015, Satpathy had supported a bill to decriminalise homosexuality. The bill was introduced by INC leader

Shashi Tharoor Shashi Tharoor (; ; born 9 March 1956 in London, England ) is an Indian former international civil servant, diplomat, bureaucrat and politician, writer and public intellectual who has been serving as Member of Parliament for Thiruvananthapuram, ...

. But, it was defeated with 71 against, 1 abstaining and 24 in favour.

Views and opinions

On net neutrality

In March 2014, the

(TRAI) released a formal consultation paper on

(OTT) messaging services and whether telecom operators should be allowed to charge separately for some messaging apps. Soon afterwards, Tathagata Satpathy wrote an

open letter An open letter is a Letter (message), letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally. Open letters usually take the form of a letter (mess ...

to TRAI stating his support for

. In the letter, he said such a policy would hinder the

Digital India Digital India is a campaign launched by the Government of India in order to ensure that the Government's services are made available to citizens electronically by improved online infrastructure and by increasing Internet connectivity or making ...

project and kill new startups. He said that he used such apps to interact with his constituency and this policy will hinder his functioning as a representative.

On legalisation of cannabis

Tathagata Satpathy has criticised the ban on

cannabis in India Cannabis in India has been known to be used at least as early as 2000 BCE. In Indian society, common terms for cannabis preparations include charas (resin), ganja (flower), and bhang (seeds and leaves), with Indian drinks such as bhang lassi ...

, while pointing out the long history of its usage as a ritual and recreational intoxicant. He has said that cannabis was banned in

while alcohol was not, because of "an elitist bias" as cannabis was a poor man's drug. He has said the addiction depends on person's character and not on the intoxicant. He has suggested an amendment to the

Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, commonly referred to as the NDPS Act, is an Act of the Parliament of India that prohibits a person the production/manufacturing/cultivation, possession, sale, purchasing, transport, stor ...

to allow recreational and medicinal usage of marijuana. During his "Ask Me Anything" session on

in March 2015, Satpathy admitted that he smoked

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: ''Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternatively ...

when he was young. In August 2015, during the monsoon session of the Parliament, he proposed the decriminalisation of cannabis. In December 2015, he repeated his proposal during the winter session, saying that banning cannabis has forced villagers to turn to alcohol.

On homosexuality and moral policing

Tathagata Satpathy has condemned the

Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code Section 377 of the British colonial penal code criminalized all sexual acts "against the order of nature". The law was used to prosecute people engaging in oral and anal sex along with homosexual activity. The penal code remains in many former col ...

, which criminalises

homosexuality in India Homosexuality in India has been a subject of discussion from ancient times to modern times. Hindu texts have taken various positions regarding homosexual characters and themes. The ancient Indian text ''Kamasutra'' written by Vātsyāyana dedic ...

, calling it "archaic" and called for its repeal. He had supported a bill introduced by

to decriminalise homosexuality during the 2015 winter session of the Parliament. When the bill was defeated, Satpathy called it a very sad day. Satpathy has also condemned moral policing and called for a repeal of laws banning

pornography in India Pornography in India is available in print magazines, but is mainly consumed using the internet. This consumption is increasing with the increased prevalence of smartphones and the internet. Despite the increased access, public discourse and at ...

On privacy and Aadhaar

Tathagata Satpathy has raised concerns that the

Aadhaar Aadhaar ( hi, आधार, ādhār, lit=base, foundation, bn, আধার) is a 12-digit unique identity number that can be obtained voluntarily by the citizens of India and resident foreign nationals who have spent over 182 days in twelve ...

project could be used for

mass surveillance Mass surveillance is the intricate surveillance of an entire or a substantial fraction of a population in order to monitor that group of citizens. The surveillance is often carried out by local and federal governments or governmental organizati ...

ethnic cleansing Ethnic cleansing is the systematic forced removal of ethnic, racial, and religious groups from a given area, with the intent of making a region ethnically homogeneous. Along with direct removal, extermination, deportation or population transfer ...

in the future. He has questioned why a new identity card project was created despite having several identity cards systems. He has also criticised the decision to present the Aadhaar Bill, 2016 as a

money bill In the Westminster system (and, colloquially, in the United States), a money bill or supply bill is a bill that solely concerns taxation or government spending (also known as appropriation of money), as opposed to changes in public law. Conv ...

. He pointed out that although the bill allows the sharing of biometric under circumstances of national security, there was no concrete definition of national security included in the bill.

On religious laws and missionaries

Satpathy supports the implementation of a

Uniform Civil Code The Uniform Civil Code (Hindi: समान नागरिक संहिता, IAST: Samāna Nāgarika Saṃhitā) is a proposal in India to formulate and implement personal laws of citizens which apply on all citizens equally regardless ...

. He has criticised those current laws which are based on various religions, saying that the world is moving beyond religious scriptures and such laws only divide the society. He has also said that a lot of

faith-based foreign aid Faith-based may refer to: * Faith-based organization * Faith-based community organizing * Faith-based school * White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships The White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships ...

comes to

through

missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

. They offer the poor

Dalit Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the Caste system in India, castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold Varna (Hinduism), varna syste ...

s free education and jobs, this results in mass conversions to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

. Satpathy has said that politicians should use the dictionary definition of

secularism Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on Secularity, secular, Naturalism (philosophy), naturalistic considerations. Secularism is most commonly defined as the Separation of church and state, separation of relig ...

to avoid confusion.

Other opinions

Satpathy has supported the inclusion of

Members of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

under the

Jan Lokpal Bill The Jan Lokpal Bill, also referred to as the Citizen's Ombudsman Bill, was a bill drawn up by civil society activists in India seeking the appointment of a Jan Lokpal, an independent body to investigate corruption cases and complete the investi ...

to curb corruption. In December 2015, he criticised the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2015 during a debate, saying that the government was favouring big corporations with such laws. He has also criticised the

Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana ( hi, सांसद आदर्श ग्राम योजना , abbr.: SAGY) is a rural development programme broadly focusing upon the development in the villages which includes social development, cultural dev ...

calling it flawed and that it looks good only on paper. He said it forces him to choose only 8 villages from his constituency for development out of 3000. Satpathy has opposed the proposal to make

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

the

national language A national language is a language (or language variant, e.g. dialect) that has some connection—de facto or de jure—with a nation. There is little consistency in the use of this term. One or more languages spoken as first languages in the te ...

. Satpathy has criticised the construction of new

nuclear power plant A nuclear power plant (NPP) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power stations, heat is used to generate steam that drives a steam turbine connected to a electric generator, generato ...

s in India, claiming that most of the world was now moving away from nuclear energy. He has also claimed that

Areva Areva S.A. is a French multinational group specializing in nuclear power headquartered in Courbevoie, France. Before its 2016 corporate restructuring, Areva was majority-owned by the French state through the French Alternative Energies and Atom ...

nuclear firm of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

sold outdated technology to

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

. He has also said that the centre should release the data regarding the safety of nuclear power plants as they are in other countries.

References

External links

Tathagata Satpathy
Lok Sabha
Tathagata Satpathy Twitter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Satpathy, Tathagata 1956 births Living people Lok Sabha members from Odisha India MPs 1998–1999 India MPs 2004–2009 India MPs 2009–2014 India MPs 2014–2019 People from Dhenkanal district Odisha politicians Biju Janata Dal politicians Janata Dal politicians