The Opposition Congress on Thursday questioned Punjab’s Akali Dal-BJP government’s change in “stand” on reports of shifting 1993 Delhi bomb blast convict Devinderpal Singh Bhullar to Amritsar jail from Delhi’s Tihar jail.
Questioning the timing of the move, the Congress said the State had earlier filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court where it was stated that bringing Bhullar back could create law and order problem and disturb peace in Punjab.
State Congress chief Pratap Singh Bajwa maintained that his party had no problem with any prisoner being shifted from one place to the other under the ambit of law, but questioned the “shift of stand of the Akalis as per their convenience“.
He was reacting to the reports concerning transfer of Sikh militants lodged in various jails across the country, including Bhullar, to Punjab.
“Eight years back, Punjab government had given an affidavit in the Supreme Court, maintaining that if Devinderpal Singh Bhullar is shifted to Punjab, it could create law and order situation in the State and disturb peace.
“I want to ask Chief Minister Badal why have the Akalis shifted their stand and chose this time now. According to their convenience, they keep shifting stand. This government should give an answer to the people of Punjab and also to the Bhullar family,” Mr. Bajwa said.
Mr. Bajwa alleged that the Akalis wanted to go back to fundamentalist issues having failed to deliver on all fronts.
“Knowing they (Akalis) will bite dust in next year’s elections, they are creating circumstances to part company with their alliance partner BJP by trying to polarise the voters. They are desperate to win over the hardliners and by seeking to raise their issues, they want to sort of win them over for their vested political interests,” he said.
The September 1993 bomb blast in New Delhi killed nine persons and left 25 others injured, including the then Youth Congress president M. S. Bitta.
However, officials have remained tight-lipped over reports that the Punjab government has processed cases of transferring Sikh militants to prisons in the State.
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had in December last year sought the personal intervention of Delhi Lt.-Governor Najeeb Jung for the release of Bhullar, saying the Supreme Court had already commuted his death sentence to life imprisonment and he had already completed 20 years of imprisonment.
Congress MP from Ludhiana, Ravneet Singh Bittu, grandson of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh who was assassinated in a terrorist attack in Chandigarh in 1995, opposed any move to shift Bhullar and other militants to jails in the State.
“It will be a tall order for the security keeping in view many sympathisers of these Sikh militants will drop in to meet them. In the recent past, we have seen clashes taking place in different jails of Punjab, how will the jail officials and security agencies handle such militants,” Mr. Bittu said.
He also said if people like Bhullar are moved to Punjab jails, it can again whip up passions of some people, especially youth.
“Punjab has gone through a troubled phase and witnessed dark days of militancy three decades back. From time to time, the Akalis are known to play votebank politics and follow appeasement policy towards the hardliners,” Mr. Bittu said.
Mr. Badal, on May 28, had constituted a high level committee to ensure timely release of prisoners lodged in different jails of Punjab and outside, an official release had said here.
In December last year, Punjab Government had sought the “pre-mature release” of 13 “life convicts”, five of them convicted in the Beant Singh assassination case and one in the bomb blast in New Delhi on September 1993. - PTI
