Ahead of Lok Sabha polls, Katchatheevu turns ammo for BJP to attack Congress; Modi leads attack

“Weakening India’s unity, integrity and interests has been Congress’ way of working for 75 years and counting,” the prime minister said.

Also Read: BJP misusing agencies to subvert democracy, belittle Constitution: Kharge

BJP’s hopes of political maneuvering 

The BJP is hopeful that the issue will come handy to its efforts to gain political traction in Dravidian state as it gears up for the Lok Sabha polls.

The report is based on a RTI reply Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai received on the decision of the then Indira Gandhi government in 1974 to hand over the territory in Palk Strait to the neighbouring country.

The report also cites first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s comments on the issue, a source of dispute between India and Lanka, that he would have no hesitation in giving up claims on the island.

“I attach no importance at all to this little island and I would have no hesitation in giving up our claims to it. I do not like this pending indefinitely and being raised again in Parliament”, Nehru wrote, as quoted in the report by the Times of India.

BJP state president K Annamalai in a video post on X, said that the Congress and the DMK government colluded in ceding away the Katchtheevu island to Sri Lanka.

Also Read: 950 candidates in the race from 39 Parliament constituencies of Tamil Nadu

‘Secret deal between India and Sri Lanka’

He said that a ‘secret deal’ was negotiated between India and Sri Lanka over the island and the Congress had refused to talk about the matter.

Annamalai said that the island, over which fishermen of Tamil Nadu had fishing rights for thousands of years without any interruption, was mysteriously ceded away to Sri Lanka.

Due to this, the fishermen getting arrested in the high sea and the Indian government retrieving them back was a daily story.

Blaming that the Congress was fully responsible in ceding Katchatheevu island, an important part of India and a historically significant area of Tamil Nadu, to Sri Lanka, Annamalai accused the DMK government under Kalaignar Karunanidhi of being hand in glove with the grand old party for the illegally ceding out island.

The Tamil Nadu BJP president said that despite the opinion of the then attorney general MC Setalvad in 1960, that India had a stronger claim on the island and that the sovereignty of the island was and is in India, Nehru dismissed the issue as inconsequential.

Concluding, Annamalai said that the Congress, whenever in power, had the least interest in securing our country’s border, territorial integrity and sovereignty.

Also Read: Katchatheevu issue: Congress rebuts PM Modi’s charges

Sitharaman attacks DMK

Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday said Tamil Nadu’s ruling DMK should stop its “misinformation” on the Katchatheevu issue.

On X, Sitharaman, referring to an RTI reply obtained from government authorities by Annamalai on the Katchatheevu issue, said: “…What the RTI reply has revealed has been stated authoritatively by former CM Jayalalitha Amma in the TN state assembly itself.”

Sitharaman tagged a video clip  — posted by an ‘X’ handle — which showed late chief minister Jayalalithaa’s reply to DMK legislator K Ponmudy in the Assembly years ago.

In the Assembly, Jayalalithaa had said (during 2011-16) that the DMK members had no locus standi to pose questions on Katchatheevu.

It was during the DMK regime when M Karunanidhi was Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Katchatheevu island was ceded to Sri Lanka by the Union government.

“What Karunanidhi was doing when the Centre concluded pacts in 1974 and 1976 to cede the island to Sri Lanka?” she had asked.

Jayalalithaa also had demanded to know if Karunanidhi had taken steps at that time to stall the Centre’s move or if he had staged a protest against the decision to give away the island to the neighbouring country.

She was responding to DMK legislator Ponmudy, who said whether Jayalalithaa had spoken or not in 1991 that she would retrieve Katchatheevu.

To that point, Jayalalithaa recalled her remark that she would take steps on the matter through the Central government. She did not say in 1991 that she would retrieve Katchatheevu by “mobilising troops.” It is the DMK that is fully responsible for the travails of the fishermen, she had alleged.

Thanks @labstamil for putting this out. What the RTI reply has revealed has been stated authoritatively by former CM Jayalalitha Amma avl in the TN state assembly itself.
முன்னாள் முதலமைச்சர் ஜெயலலிதா அவர்கள் சட்ட பேரவையிலேயே கச்சத்தீவைபற்றி எடுத்துசொன்ன உண்மை. @arivalayam #DMK… https://t.co/VL1CYpthXi

— Nirmala Sitharaman (Modi Ka Parivar) (@nsitharaman) March 31, 2024

(With PTI inputs)