Satish Upadhyay

Early life

Born and brought up in a middle-class family in Delhi, having roots in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, he is the youngest among his eight siblings. Since his school days, he had tremendous leadership qualities and showed keen interest in social welfare. Upadhyay was an active Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) karyakarta (worker) and participated actively in all social activities in the neighbourhood.

Student life

He has a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in Political Science from Delhi University. While in college he joined the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and contested Delhi University Student Union elections as an ABVP candidate. Extremely popular among the students, he was elected as the youngest Vice President of Delhi University Student Union in 1982.
His excellent oratory and organisational skills helped him reach the highest position in ABVP. He was the Secretary, ABVP (Delhi State) from 1984-1986.

Early Political Career

After completing his graduation, Upadhyay joined Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the youth wing of BJP. He was made the General Secretary (organisation), BJYM, Delhi state in 1988 and continued in the same position till 1990. He rapidly rose to the top echelons of power in BJYM and was made the President BJYM, Delhi state, in 2002, a position he held till 2004. He made valuable contributions in the 1993 Delhi Assembly Elections. He was also the member of Media Team at BJP Headquarters during 1998-2000.

Electoral Politics

He held various important positions in the party. An ardent party worker, his stature in the party grew enormously over the years and after working for the people for about three decades, he finally entered electoral politics in the 2012 and contested the Municipal Council of Delhi (MCD) elections from Malviya Nagar (ward no. 161). He won the election and was also entrusted the job of Chairman Education Committee of SDMC. His commendable work as the Chairman brought him much admiration and he was selected for a second term too. He was later selected as the Chairman Standing Committee.
As the Chairman of the Education Committee, Upadhyay took several measures to make the system more transparent accountable. He brought improvement in the mid-day meals scheme, finalised many tendering processes including construction of municipal school buildings, appointed many primary teachers; renewed the municipal children insurance scheme, introduced the Merit Scholarship Exam, etc.
During his tenure, proposals for the opening of four new primary schools and 12 new nursery sections in municipal schools were made and Computer Aided Learning(CAL) laboratories in municipal schools were re-introduced. He proposed the opening of a central level sports academy and a sports institute in each zone for providing special coaching facility to municipal school students. Establishment of the Teachers’ Training Institute was also finalised and an action plan for converting semi-concrete school buildings into concrete school buildings was prepared.
Upadhyay initiated the self-defence training programme for girl students and female teachers and disaster management training for school staff and children. He introduced e-toilets and CCTV cameras in the schools and renovated Science Museum at Sector 6, R.K. Puram. He also organised educational tours for cultural exchange with Northeast states of India and appointed Special Educators for Children with Special Needs.
Because of his clean and honest image, after heading the education committee for two years, he was unanimously elected as the Chairman Standing Committee, SDMC. Under his Chairmanship, SDMC was able to institutionalise innovative changes for the betterment of the society.
In a very short span of time, he has made his mark in the Indian political arena and taken the Delhi unit of BJP in a new direction. He was the Vice President, Delhi BJP unit from 2010–12 and Secretary, Delhi BJP from 2009-2010. He was appointed president of BJP’s Delhi state unit after the Lok Sabha elections in July 2014 and took over the reins from Dr Harsh Vardhan.
In September 2014, he resigned as the Chairman of the Standing Committee, SDMC to focus on party responsibilities. He is now the primary architect of the party’s action plan in Delhi.

Social Life

Since his school days, as a RSS volunteer Upadhyay had been actively involved in development works. He was a member of various religious and social organisations and worked with great dedication for the social welfare of people in health and education of underprivileged children in particular.

Personal life

He is married to Aarti Upadhyay and together they have three children Sumedha, Shivika and DJ crossfire. While both his daughters are lawyers by profession, his son DJ crossfire is in school.