As the Katchatheevu island matter gets bigger ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday (April 1) quoted a media report and said that the new details emerging on the issue have “unmasked” the DMK’s “double standards”. He also described DMK’s ally Congress as “family units” and said that their callousness on Katchatheevu “harmed the interests of our poor fishermen and fisherwomen”.
The Prime Minister’s remarks came in connection with the response to revelations from a recent Right To Information (RTI) application by Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai, which exposed the then Congress government led by Indira Gandhi who relinquished India’s claim over the strategic island of Katchatheevu and handed it over to Sri Lanka. The Indira Gandhi government had signed an India-Sri Lanka Maritime Agreement in 1974.
What did PM Modi say on Katchatheevu?
“Rhetoric aside, DMK has done NOTHING to safeguard Tamil Nadu’s interests. New details emerging on Katchatheevu have UNMASKED the DMK’s double standards totally. Congress and DMK are family units. They only care that their own sons and daughters rise. They don’t care for anyone else. Their callousness on Katchatheevu has harmed the interests of our poor fishermen and fisherwomen in particular,” PM Modi posted on X on Monday.
The media report said that DMK MP Era Sezhiyan on July 23, 1974 expressed anger that the Indira regime had kept Parliament and the M Karunanidhi-led DMK govt in Tamil Nadu in the dark about the “unholy agreement” and the surrender of territory.
“Documents accessed from MEA through RTI by chief of TN BJP, K Annamalai, show that on June 19, 1974, the then foreign secretary Kewal Singh, accompanied by director, historical division, B K Basu, called on Karunanidhi at the secretariat conference room in what was then Madras to brief the latter of the deal and returned with his “general acceptance” of it,” the report said.
Jaishankar on Katchatheevu
Minister of External Affairs on Monday held a press conference in the national capital on the issue and said that this is not an issue which has “surfaced suddenly” and it has been a “live issue” which has been discussed in the Parliament and consultative committee.
“We know who did this, what we don't know is who hid it...We believe that the public has the right to know how this situation came up,” he said.
Listing out some data, Jaishankar said that over 6000 Indian fishermen have been detained by Sri Lanka so far in the last 20 years.
"In the last 20 years, 6184 Indian fishermen have been detained by Sri Lanka and 1175 Indian fishing vessels have been seized, detained or apprehended by Sri Lanka. This is the background of the issue that we are discussing. In the last five years, the Katchatheevu issue and the Fisherman's issue have been repeatedly raised by various parties in the Parliament. It has come up in parliament questions, debates and in the consultative committee,” the Minister said.
Jaishankar's response to Stalin's queries
He said that he has responded to the current Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu MK Stalin on the issue 21 times.
“The CM of Tamil Nadu has written to me numerous times. And my record shows that to the current CM, I have replied 21 times on this issue. This is not an issue which has suddenly surfaced. This is a live issue. It is an issue which has been very much debated in parliament and in the Tamil Nadu circles. It has been the subject of correspondence between the union government and the state government... Now, every political party in Tamil Nadu has taken a position on this…” he said.
“Two parties, the Congress and the DMK, have approached this matter as though they have no responsibility for it. As though the situation is for today's central government to resolve, there is no history to this, this has just happened, they are the people who are taking up the cause; that is the way they would like to project it…” the Minister added.
Congress reacts
Responding to PM Modi's tweet and EAM S Jaishankar's press conference on the Katchatheevu issue, Congress leader Manickam Tagore said, "The problem with BJP, RSS and PM Modi is that people are rejecting them in Tamil Nadu and they want a diversionary tactic... The government of India headed by Indira Gandhi signed an agreement called the Indira Gandhi-Sirimavo Bandaranaike agreement in that time to save 6 lakh Tamils and to save them this island was given to the Srilankan govt. we are very clear that if our fishermen are attacked, we will raise our voices to take back Katchatheevu Island. But, in 10 years, PM Modi has failed to do so. They will not get even one seat in Tamil Nadu by these cheap tactics. Annamalai is struggling for third place..."
(With ANI inputs)
