Katchatheevu, a small uninhabited island administered by Sri Lanka, was at the centre of a war of words between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition Congress on Sunday, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi accusing the Indira Gandhi government of “callously” ceding the territory to Colombo.
Hours after Modi cited a media report to criticise the 1974 India-Sri Lanka agreement on the island, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge linked the premier’s stance to the upcoming general elections. Kharge likened the island’s ceding to the swapping of enclaves between India and Bangladesh in 2015 under Modi’s leadership and said both were friendly gestures towards neighbouring countries.
“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 75 years and counting,” Modi said in a post on X.
The report, published by The Times of India on Sunday and cited by Modi, was based on documents obtained by Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai. It appeared to indicate that past Congress governments did not attach much importance to the island located about 20 km from the Indian coastline. In a minute cited in a note given by the external affairs ministry to a parliamentary committee in 1968, former premier Jawaharlal Nehru is quoted as saying in 1961 that he attaches “no importance at all to this little island and I would have no hesitation in giving up our claims to it”.
Kharge, in a post on X, said Modi had “suddenly woken up to the issues of territorial integrity and national security in your 10th year of misrule. Perhaps, elections are the trigger.”
{{/usCountry}}Kharge, in a post on X, said Modi had “suddenly woken up to the issues of territorial integrity and national security in your 10th year of misrule. Perhaps, elections are the trigger.”
{{/usCountry}}The Congress chief pointed to the 2015 land boundary agreement that led to the swapping of 111 Indian enclaves for 55 Bangladeshi enclaves and recalled that Modi had said at the time the pact was “not just about realignment of land, it is about a meeting of hearts”.
Both the agreement on Katchatheevu island and the pact on the land boundary with Bangladesh were a “friendly gesture” to a neighbouring country and the swapping of enclaves with Bangladesh was the Modi government’s “realisation” of Indira Gandhi’s initiative in 1974, Kharge said.
“On the eve of elections in Tamil Nadu, you are raising this sensitive issue, but your own Govt’s Attorney General, Shri Mukul Rohtagi, in 2014 told the following to the Supreme Court: ‘Katchatheevu went to Sri Lanka by an agreement in 1974…How can it be taken back today? If you want Katchatheevu back, you will have to go to war to get it back’,” he added.
India and Sri Lanka have made contesting claims on Katchatheevu since 1947, with the Indian side basing its position on the island being historically a part of the Ramnad kingdom or principality since the 17th century. Both the Dutch East India Company and the British East India Company had leased the island from the kingdom’s rulers.
While these claims between the two sides and eventual handing over of the island to Sri Lanka have figured in historic documents and parliamentary proceedings, the island has become a hot button issue because of the BJP’s current focus on Tamil Nadu for the parliamentary elections.
Manuraj S, a spokesperson for the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Tamil Nadu, responded to Modi’s post on X by saying: “Startling that the Prime Minister’s eyes have been opened by a news article based on an RTI query filed by his party person and information provided by his Government on an issue that is nearly 50 years old!”
He added that after 10 years in government, the BJP is “afraid to campaign on its achievements and is still busy with Opposition-blaming”. “Either way, this is a woeful and outdated political campaign issue,” he said.
The DMK is an ally of the Congress as part of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).
Kharge, too, questioned why the Modi government did not “take ANY steps to resolve this issue and take back Katchatheevu”. Noting that Congress leaders such as Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi “lived and died for India’s unity”, he alleged that Modi “gave a CLEAN CHIT to China” after 20 Indian soldiers were killed in clashes in Galwan Valley in June 2020.
“What is not an ‘Eye opening and startling’ is how you raised the belligerence levels of even otherwise friendly neighbours like Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives! It is first time in history that Pakistan bought weapons from Russia, due to your foreign policy failure,” he said.
The Congress leader also said his party had fought “violent secessionist forces” and maintained the integrity of the nation by “keeping Punjab, Assam, Mizoram, Tamil Nadu and Nagaland...within the Indian Union” and also merged Sikkim and Goa with the country. “Stop this obsession with the Congress, and reflect on your own misdeeds, due to which India is suffering!” he said.
The BJP, however, accused the Congress of “tarnishing the glorious history of the nation”.
“This move jeopardised the livelihoods of the Tamil Nadu fishermen and tarnished the glorious history of the nation,” party spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla told reporters.
“In 1974, during the tenure of prime minister Indira Gandhi’s government, Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi of the DMK party was ordered to transfer the Katchatheevu island to Sri Lanka. The island was not just a piece of land; it was an integral part of Bharat, an inseparable part of Tamil Nadu, a vital source of livelihood for the local fishermen,” he added.