Bhagwant Mann, BJP's Ravneet Bittu Back Parole For Beant Singh Murder Convict

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's request to Governor Gulab Chand Kataria to seek parole for Jagtar Singh Hawara, has been seconded by BJP leader Ravneet Singh Bittu. Mann had first written to the Governor seeking 10-day parole for Hawara, so he could meet his ailing mother. On Wednesday, he took up the matter personally, saying, "Jagtar Singh Hawara has been lodged in Burail Jail, Chandigarh, for the last 31 years. His mother is old and suffering from age-related health issues and is currently semi-conscious. In view of her deteriorating health condition, I have requested the Governor to kindly consider granting 10 days' parole to Jagtar Singh Hawara at the earliest so that he can meet his mother."

The state government, he said, takes "full guarantee for the law and order situation in the wake of Jagtar Singh Hawara's visit to his home."

Bittu -- grandson of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh for whose assassination Hawara was convicted, also chose to back the parole, making a distinction between justice for his grandfather and compassion for his elderly mother. 

"As the family of late S Beant Singh ji, we second this humanitarian move. A mother should not be made to undergo punishment for the actions of her son," Bittu said.

"Whatever the legal consequences of his actions may be, an aged and unwell mother should not be deprived of the opportunity to meet her son when the law provides for temporary parole," he added.

The matter puts two political figures who stand on opposite sides of one of Punjab's most sensitive historical fault lines on remarkably similar ground.

But the politics surrounding the issue is much bigger than this one parole application. Bandi Singh (Sikh prisoners) politics appears to be once again moving from the margins to the centre of Punjab's political discourse. With the 2027 assembly elections approaching, the release, parole and rehabilitation of Sikh prisoners are increasingly becoming an emotive political issue, one that cuts across conventional party lines.

For the AAP government, Mann's intervention allows it to project a humanitarian and conciliatory position on a deeply emotive Sikh issue, while making it clear that the final decision in Hawara's case rests with the Centre because the case is being heard in Delhi.

For the BJP, Bittu's intervention offers a different political proposition: Supporting compassion without conceding the historical or legal debate surrounding Beant Singh's assassination.

The Hawara parole episode shows that Bandi Sikh politics is no longer simply an Akali Dal preserve. AAP, BJP, Congress and Sikh political formations all have reasons to engage with the issue, whether from the prism of humanitarianism, justice, reconciliation or electoral politics.

Punjab's political parties appear to have realised one thing: The Bandi Singh question still carries considerable emotional and political currency.

The question now is whether Hawara's parole becomes a one-off humanitarian decision, or the beginning of a much larger political contest over the future of Bandi Singh politics in Punjab.