Last Updated: March 31, 2024, 10:54 IST
Eye opening and startling! New facts reveal how Congress callously gave away #Katchatheevu, PM Modi said (Image: PTI)
PM Modi was joined by a bevy of leaders of the Centre’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who admonished the Congress for losing control over the island in Palk Strait
The Congress party has weakened India’s unity, integrity and interests, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday, reacting to a media report that cited official documents detailing how Indira Gandhi’s government handed over the disputed Katchatheevu island to Sri Lanka in 1974.
PM Modi was joined by a bevy of leaders of the Centre’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who shared the link to the Times of India article on X (previously Twitter) and admonished the Congress for losing control over the island in Palk Strait.
“Eye opening and startling! New facts reveal how Congress callously gave away #Katchatheevu,” PM Modi said.
“This has angered every Indian and reaffirmed in people’s minds- we can’t ever trust Congress!” he added in the same post, sharing a link to the article that pointed to indecision on the Centre’s part leading to the hading over of the island to Sri Lanka by Indira Gandhi’s government in 1974.
Eye opening and startling!New facts reveal how Congress callously gave away #Katchatheevu.
This has angered every Indian and reaffirmed in people’s minds- we can’t ever trust Congress!
Weakening India’s unity, integrity and interests has been Congress’ way of working for…
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 31, 2024
The report comes just weeks ahead of the first round of voting in the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections.
The Katchatheevu Issue
With Lok Sabha Election 2024 around the corner, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is seeking to make the ceding of Katchatheevu (meaning ‘barren island’ in Tamil), a 285-acre uninhabited isle, an electoral issue to take on INDIA bloc partners DMK and Congress, for it happened during their rule.
Another agreement, signed during the Emergency in the absence of a government in Tamil Nadu, clearly demarcated areas where fishermen on either side are disallowed to conduct their activity. The agreement between India and Sri Lanka on the maritime boundary between both countries in the Gulf of Mannar and the Bay of Bengal was signed on March 23, 1976.
It read: “The fishing vessels and fishermen of India shall not engage in fishing in the historic waters, the territorial sea and the exclusive zone of Sri Lanka nor shall the fishing vessels and fishermen of Sri Lanka engage in fishing in historic waters, the territorial sea and the exclusive economic zone of India, without the express permission of Sri Lanka or India, as the case may be…”
Tamil Nadu’s fishermen have been frequently facing conflict with Lankan authorities in their usual fishing activity around Katchatheevu.
What BJP’s RTI Reveals About The Issue
The TOI report cited documents related to the isle, which were reportedly obtained by Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai through an RTI application. The documents detail how Sri Lanka, then Ceylon, pressed its claim on the piece of land right after Independence when it said the Indian Navy (then Royal Indian Navy) could not conduct exercises on the island without its permission.
New Delhi contested Sri Lanka’s claim for decades only to acquiesce finally. The documents bring forward the indecision of previous governments over the matter before it formally gave up its claim altogether in 1974.
