Chennai:

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Tuesday said that despite the BJP leading the government for a third term at the Centre, “no tangible” effort has been taken to retrieve Katchatheevu, an islet ceded by India to Sri Lanka in 1974.

In a letter to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Mr Stalin flagged the ‘unprecedented’ increase in instances of apprehension of Indian fishermen from Tamil Nadu by the Sri Lankan navy in recent weeks and called for concrete steps to find a lasting solution to uphold the traditional rights of the fishers from the state.

He pointed out that the Sri Lankan navy had apprehended 25 fishermen along with two motorised country crafts and two unregistered fishing boats on July 1.

“In the letter dated 27.06.2024, you have mentioned that the genesis of this issue goes back to 1974 following an understanding between the then Union Government and the State Government,” he said in an apparent reference to the ceding of Katchatheevu.

“In this regard, I would like to point out that the DMK-led State Government opposed the Katchatheevu agreement tooth and nail and its opposition to the same was made clear both in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly and the Parliament. The fact that the State Government was not properly consulted in this regard is well known. It is the Union Government that ceded the island to Sri Lanka completely, jeopardising and depriving the rights and interests of Indian Fishermen,” he said.

He recalled that his father and late DMK President M Karunanidhi had even filed a sworn affidavit before the Supreme Court and categorically stated that “when the entire exercise undertaken by government are devoid of constitutionality, it cannot be said the sovereignty of Katchatheevu island is a settled matter.”

“Despite the fact that the BJP-led government is in power for the third consecutive term, no tangible and meaningful effort has been taken to retrieve the island except for using the issue as election time rhetoric! The need of the hour is to ease the problems faced by the fishermen of Tamil Nadu and to find a lasting solution to this festering problem,” the chief minister said.

“Therefore, I reiterate my request to you to take necessary concrete steps to find a lasting solution to this vexatious issue so that the traditional rights of the Tamil Nadu fishermen are upheld,” he added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

It isn’t often when a foreign policy issue generates as much heat within India’s polity, but this week both the PM and the EAM set off a debate over a 1974 agreement with Sri Lanka that quickly saw pushback from the opposition, and some concern in Colombo. My colleague D. Suresh Kumar has more on the domestic politics over Katchatheevu.

Let’s just tell you how it played out in terms of foreign policy:

1. At a press conference on EAM Jaishankar expanded on a tweet by PM Modi accusing the Congress government of 1974 and the Tamil Nadu State government at the time of “colluding” to “give away” the island.

-The agreement was signed in 1974 and an exchange of letters in 1976 clarified the rights of both sides-

-Katchatheevu, an island less than 2 square kilometres large in the Palk Strait (MAP), was found to lie on the Sri Lankan side of the International Maritime Boundary Line

-Indian fishermen did not have fishing rights around the island, but they could use the land to dry nets, and were allowed to visit the solitary structure, a church for St. Anthony, especially on the day of an annual festival there

-India received rights to the Wadge Bank – rich in petroleum

-The final agreements in 1976 also defined the trijunction point in the waters between India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives

You can find the agreements themselves on the MEA website, the links are given online

The issue has been contentious for decades, but interestingly, when Mr. Jaishankar was Foreign Secretary in 2015, an RTI by the MEA shown by the opposition actually said that the agreement did not involve “acquiring or ceding” of any territory as none had been demarcated historically.

2. Mr. Jaishankar also claimed that Indian fishermen are still being arrested, shot at and even killed by Sri Lankan authorities as a result of the agreement

While it is true that hundreds of Indian fishermen have been detained – about 100 a year for the past few years, they are not detained on Katchatheevu, according to a parliament reply

3. Finally, and perhaps what really was of interest to foreign policy experts was the EAM’s contention that there needs to be a “solution” to the problems created by the 1974 and 1976 agreement, although the matter remains in the Supreme Court at present.

The questions that have been raised are over what the government plans to do next:

1. Will the government seek to reopen the 1974 and 1976 agreements bilaterally with Sri Lanka? Sri Lankan FM Sabry has said this is not on the table, the MEA said it had no comment

2. Would the reopening of these agreements on Katchatheevu lead to other agreements with Sri Lanka that have no doubt been built on the back of this understanding?

3.If the government is calling into question this agreement, then will it also take a re-look at other agreements made in the past with the intent to revise them, especially those that deal with territorial issues in the neighbourhood

-With Pakistan, India has already called into question the 1960 Indus Water Treaty, writing about a year ago to the government in Islamabad that India is seeking to renegotiate the water sharing agreement that was guaranteed by the World Bank

-In the case of Bangladesh, the government accepted the 1974 for the exchange of enclaves that was signed between PM Indira Gandhi and Bangladesh founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. In 2015, the Modi government completed the transfer.

-With Nepal, India currently has a major dispute over territory that ignited in 2019, after the publication of new maps by the government post-reorganisation of Jammu-Kashmir and then the Nepali publication of new maps. Could reopening old agreements have an impact on that dispute?

Most importantly, the question about whether foreign policy issues are now entering and even dominating domestic policy discourse.

While the Pulwama attack and Balakot strikes on Pakistan dominated 2019 elections, the issue was one of terrorism- essentially a domestic issue

However, in the run up to 2024 elections, the government notified rules for the Citizenship Amendment Act, which is expected to feature in the election campaign in Assam, and could bring ties with Bangladesh into question. Already, the opposition there has called for an “India Out” campaign, although it hasn’t gathered much steam

The opposition is also raising on practically a daily basis the India-China boundary dispute and China’s land grab along the LAC, which may become more pronounced as the election goes forward

And ties with the Maldives have suffered in reverse, as ties with India were the target during the Maldives election, and President Muizzu has insisted on Indian troops being removed entirely from the island, setting a deadline of May 10 for the process to be completed

WV Take: Just as New Delhi would prefer not to feature as a polarizing campaign issue when neighbours go to vote, it is best to leave foreign policy negotiations outside the briefing room on domestic elections in India as well. Above all, the government should do nothing that calls into question its credibility in current negotiations, by raising a precedent that would mean future governments could reopen present agreements as well.

WV Reading Recommendations

1. Subcontinental Drift: Domestic Politics and India’s Foreign Policy Rajesh Basrur

2. Haksar on India’s Sri Lanka Policy by V Suryanarayan, Ashik J Bonofer

3. INTERTWINED LIVES : P.N. HAKSAR AND INDIRA GANDHI by Jairam Ramesh

4. 1971:A GLOBAL HISTORY OF THE CREATION OF BANGLADESH by Srinath Raghavan

5. Worldviews of Aspiring Powers: Domestic Foreign Policy Debates in China, India, Iran, Japan and Russia by Henry R. Nau and Deepa Ollapally

6. India and the Global South: Edited by Surendra Kumar, essays by diplomats and experts

Script and Presentation: Suhasini Haidar

Production: Gayatri Menon and Richard Kujur

Chennai:

 Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK President MK Stalin slammed the BJP for raising the Katchatheevu issue ahead of the the Lok Sabha polls and said that the issue has started to backfire now.

Criticising PM Modi, Mr Stalin further questioned that why did PM did not ever spoke to Sri Lanka government to return back Katchatheevu Island.

“How much time PM Narendra Modi has gone to Sri Lanka in the last 10 years? Has he asked Sri Lanka government to give back Katchatheevu Island even once. When he met Sri Lankan president did he tell that Katchatheevu Island belongs to India. At that time Katchatheevu is not remembered by PM Modi,” Mr Stalin said.

He asked PM Modi that he remembers that Katchatheevu took place during Nehru and Indira Gandhi period, but does he remember an event that happened before two years?

“PM Modi, in May 26, 2022 came to Chennai at Nehru Indoor stadium and participated in a event. In that event I requested and asked him to release GST fund, give exemption for NEET exam (to Tamil Nadu).

My first request was to retrieve Katchatheevu Island which is the rights of our fisherman. Does he remember it? Has he atleast read the request memorandum,” CM Stalin said.

CM Stalin further stated that in 2015, S Jaishankar then foreign secretary had said that Katchatheevu was never a part of India and now since election has arrived as per their wish the statement is changed, he added.

“For many years when ever questions were raised in parliament on Katchatheevu Island issue, no proper answer was given. Many initiated RTI application to get data on Katchatheevu island, but no clarification was given. The BJP government which said the issue related case is in Supreme Court and didn’t give information on it but now how it has given information through RTI,” he hit out at BJP.

He alleged that PM Modi was suddenly shedding crocodile tears for Katchatheevu Island. “In the last 10 years PM Modi never spoke about shoot out incident against Tamil fisherman and arrest of fisherman by Sri Lankan Navy, has PM Modi condemned Sri Lanka ever?” he asked.

Further coming down heavily on PM, Mr Stalin said that Modi ji never has never spoken on encroachment by China.

“China is claiming many places in Arunachal Pradesh. More than 30 places have been named in Chinese language. What are you going to tell on it? You don’t have guts to oppose China. In such situation do you have the right to speak on Katchatheevu?,” he asserted.

The development comes as PM Modi on Tuesday hit out at the Congress party, accusing it of “dividing the country into pieces” during its 60 year-long regime.

“There was an island under the sea in Tamil Nadu, but the Congress gave it to Sri Lanka and now when our fishermen venture into that area by mistake, they are arrested. Can this Congress ever protect our land when it gave our Katchatheevu to another country,” the PM said.

Coming down heavily on Congress, he further said that the party has given poll ticket to its leader who asked to divide the country into north and south regions, instead of punishing him.

“Congress could not develop the border villages of the country and termed the last villages, but the BJP called those villages the first ones and developed them. If the Congress government had remained in power till date, our former soldiers would have not got ‘one rank one pension’,” the prime minister alleged.

PM Modi on Monday also targeted the DMK for mishandling the Katchatheevu island issue and alleged the ruling party of Tamil Nadu did nothing to safeguard the state’s interests.

New details emerging on the issue of India handing over the Katchatheevu island to Sri Lanka have unmasked the DMK’s double standards totally, PM Modi posted on X, citing a news report that said that then Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi had given his concurrence to the agreement despite his party’s public posturing against the deal.

“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 tweeted.

The media report is based on an RTI reply received by Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai to his queries on the 1974 agreement between India and Lanka when Indira Gandhi was the prime minister.
The election for 543 Lok Sabha seats in the country will be held in seven phases starting April 19. Nearly 97 crore voters are eligible to cast votes in the general election. All 39 seats in Tamil Nadu will vote in a single phase on April 19 and the counting of votes will be held on June 4.

Tamil Nadu ranks fifth in terms of Lok Sabha seats, with 39 seats, including 32 unreserved seats and seven reserved for SC candidates. In the 2019 elections, the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance secured an overwhelming victory, winning 38 out of 39 seats.

In 2019, DMK won 23 Lok Sabha seats with a 33.2 per cent vote share, Congress bagged 8 seats with a 12.9 per cent vote and CPI won two seats in Tamil Nadu.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

A view of Katchatheevu in Sri Lanka. File
| Photo Credit: L. BALACHANDAR

The Sri Lankan government is yet to comment on the recent remarks by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Katchatheevu, but the island nation’s media took a critical view of the development, while fishermen’s associations urged Sri Lankan authorities to take up the issue of bottom trawling more vocally with the Indian government.

The Colombo-based English newspaper Daily Mirror, in its editorial on Tuesday, noted: “Sadly, even the seemingly unflappable Indian External Affairs Minister – Jaishankar – has dropped all pretence of statesmanship and has joined hands with his premier to rouse communal feelings in the hope of gaining a few votes in Tamil Nadu.” “Lanka desires to be left to its own devices away from India’s internal politics,” it said.

The editorial was responding to Mr. Modi’s claim — and Dr. Jaishankar’s subsequent media statement which sought to back it — that the Congress party “callously gave away” Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka. In its editorial titled ‘Katchatheevu was not India’s to ‘give away’’, business newspaper Daily Financial Times termed their remarks “a distortion of the facts, a dog whistle to South Indian nationalism and a dangerous and unnecessary provocation of a friendly neighbour that could have serious repercussions”.

“The constant provocative claims on Sri Lankan territory, especially from the highest echelons of power in India, would only force our country to seek security guarantees elsewhere. Having learnt the art of diplomacy from Ashoka and strategy from Kautilya, it would be tragic for all concerned if Sri Lanka needs to apply the foreign policy theory of Rajamandala to find ‘friends’ elsewhere to protect itself against a ‘near foe’,” the newspaper’s editorial observed.

Meanwhile, the Indian leaders’ reference to Katchatheevu in the context of frequent arrests of Indian fishermen in Sri Lankan waters has also drawn attention among those familiar with the complex and long-persisting fisheries conflict in the Palk Strait.

Both, regional and national parties in India have often conflated the fisheries conflict and the ceding of Katchatheevu, located almost equidistant from the coasts of northern Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu. Politicians have suggested that had Katchatheevu remained in India’s territory, the fishermen from Tamil Nadu would not face arrest by Sri Lankan authorities.

Leaders of fishermen’s groups in northern Sri Lanka said linking the two issues was “insincere”. Further, it distorts the persisting problem of Indian boats fishing along Sri Lanka’s coastline, using the destructive bottom trawling method that scoops out all marine organisms. The practice severely affected the livelihoods of northern Sri Lankan fisher folk, who are struggling to recover from the civil war.

Annalingam Annarasa, northern coordinator of an island-wide federation of fishermen’s organisations, said the recent remarks exposed the Indian leaders who “are simply politicising” the issue at the cost of the livelihoods of fisher folk in both countries. “Instead of remaining silent, the Sri Lankan government should resist any attempt to link the resolved matter of Katchatheevu to the unresolved question of bottom-trawling by Indian fishermen in our seas. They must take necessary steps to solve the real problem,” he told The Hindu.

Further, GPS evidence has on several occasions made clear that the fishermen from Tamil Nadu sailed well past Katchatheevu, right up to Sri Lanka’s coastline. Sri Lanka’s northern Tamil fishermen have, in several such instances, recorded visuals showing Indian fishing boats close to their shores.

“If the Indian fishermen’s arrests were about Katchatheevu, then how do we explain their fishing activity in Karainagar (north of Kayts) and Mullaitivu that is even further away?” Mr. Annarasa asked. “They are raking up the Katchatheevu issue just in time for polls, instead of finding a solution to this serious problem. Once the politicians come to power, they will once again forget our plight,” he said.

A view of Katchatheevu in Sri Lanka.
| Photo Credit: L. Balachandar

Sri Lanka’s Cabinet has not discussed the Katchatheevu issue so far as it was never raised, a government spokesman said in Colombo on April 2, after India’s ruling BJP blamed the Congress for ceding the tiny island to Colombo in 1974.

“The Cabinet did not discuss it as it was never raised,” Bandula Gunawardena, the Cabinet spokesman and minister of information told reporters here today.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday cited a media report to assert that new facts reveal that the Congress “callously” gave away Katchatheevu island to Sri Lanka.

Also Read | Katchatheevu | What is the controversy all about?

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar also slammed the Congress party and ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) over the Katchchatheevu island issue.

On Monday, Jaishankar claimed that prime ministers from the Congress displayed indifference about Katchatheevu island as if they did not care and gave away Indian fishermen’s rights despite legal views to the contrary.

Citing details of the agreements between India and Sri Lanka first in 1974 and then in 1976, he said a recurring theme is the indifference shown by the central government and prime ministers of the day about the territory of India.

Meanwhile, senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram has said that Katchatheevu was ceded to Sri Lanka to maintain good relations and to save the lives of lakhs of Tamils.

Mr. Chidambaram, a former Union Home Minister, wondered why the Prime Minister was raking up an issue that was settled in 1974.

That year, the Indira Gandhi government, to maintain good relations with Sri Lanka and to help lakhs and lakhs of Tamils there, negotiated with the island nation’s government.

Following negotiations, a settlement was made on Katchatheevu, a very small island of about 1.9 sq km, and India acknowledged Katchatheevu as belonging to Sri Lanka, he said.

In return, six lakh Tamils were allowed to come to India.

“They have come here, their families are here, they have got full freedom, they are breathing free air. Their children and grandchildren are here. The issue was closed 50 years ago,” Mr. Chidambaram said.

New Delhi:

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, amid the huge row about Lankan island Katchatheevu, has said what makes the case of different is that there was no give and take, which is the normal practice when territory is involved. India had given away the island to Sri Lanka, without getting anything in return, he underscored in an exclusive interview with NDTV today.

The tiny island near Rameswaram has become a political talking point over the weekend, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagging the issue at a rally in Meerut and also on social media, hitting out at the Congress.

Katchatheevu — a disputed area since the British period — was given to Sri Lanka by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1974 under an agreement with the island nation.

It had upset Tamil sentiments and resurfaced on the eve of the general elections. Amid BJP efforts to gain political traction in Tamil Nadu, state BJP chief K Annamalai had filed an RTI query.

In 2014, Mr Rohatgi, who was then the Attorney General, had told the Supreme Court that to retrieve Katchatheevu, “we have to go to war”. Asked about that statement today, he gave a background.

“Normally we have territorial exchanges. We had exchanges with Pakistan in the past… in 1958-1960 we had some exchanges with Pakistan. Because that was an aftermath of Independence and it was understandable,” Mr Rohatgi told NDTV.

“I remember some years ago, the current government also had some exchanges with Bangladesh. It was some enclaves. Some give and take of territory can happen but in this case it was only give… The island was handed over to Sri Lanka. Why the island was handed over, what did we get in return, these are questions the Congress should answer,” he added.

His remarks also address Opposition questions on why the government has not taken action on the issue since coming to power in 2014.  

Yesterday, Tamil Nadu’s ruling DMK commented that if PM Modi was keen on Katchatheevu, he could have reclaimed that island during his 10 years in office. “Why did not he take up the Katchatheevu issue?” senior party leader RS Bharathi has said.

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge had pointed out that the BJP-led government had made a similar “friendly gesture” to Bangladesh regarding the exchange of border enclaves.

In 1974, when it was challenged by an ordinary citizen over recognizing the tiny Katchatheevu island as Sri Lankan territory, the government argued he had no locus standi to interfere in the case.

Fifty years later, Brij Khandelwal, the first petitioner in the Katchatheevu case, says he stands by his belief that no government has any business in diminishing the country’s territory.

The uninhabited island, about 1.6 km long and over 300 metres wide, has shot back into the limelight ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, with the BJP accusing the then Congress government of giving it away to Sri Lanka.

In an exclusive interview with NDTV, Mr Khandelwal recalled why he had put his foot down over the issue.

“I filed this petition in 1974 because there was some talk about a small island of only 200 acres down south being donated as a gift to Sri Lanka. I didn’t like the idea because I thought no government had any business to reduce the territory of India. They can add, but not dilute or diminish the territory of India,” he said.

Read | “Nehru Saw It As Nuisance”: S Jaishankar Doubles Down On Katchatheevu Row

He said he filed a petition in the Delhi High Court in 1974 out of the concern that the island may be used for military purposes in the future if relations soured between the two countries.

“My submission was today relations may be good with Sri Lanka, but tomorrow they could turn sour and hostile. That did happen later in the 80s. So I was very keen and concerned about it… my fear that someday if some hostile government leases out this piece of land and it is used for military purposes, what happens then?”

However, with the Emergency still on and the fundamental rights of the citizens suspended, his arguments faced a fierce response from the government.

Watch | Video: Katchatheevu Island, The New Flashpoint In BJP Vs Opposition

“The government argued that we had no locus standi in the case, we had no business, no link and no direct relations to the Katchatheevu island, therefore we should not be heard. But as a free citizen, with all my fundamental rights intact, I had every business to interfere and raise this issue. I had every right to move around freely on any part of the Indian territory and no government had any business to cut away any part of the land,” said Mr Khandelwal.

But the court wasn’t convinced.

“The court probably decided I really had no locus standi, but more importantly, because the emergency provisions were enforced and I had no fundamental rights, so I could not plead on that ground,” he added.

After the Emergency was lifted, Mr Khandelwal said he did not pursue the matter very strongly because “no government was interested.” “After 1977, when the emergency was lifted and the Janata Party came to power, I told them. But they asked me not to unnecessarily interfere in the relations between the two countries. So I kept quiet,” he added.

Read | “I Replied 21 Times”: S Jaishankar Trashes DMK Claims Over Katchatheevu

The island was part of the Indian territory till 1947 and there was no dispute over the legality of the whole case, he added.

“It was about the magnanimity of the Indira Gandhi government that probably forced her to take this decision. She wanted good relations with Sri Lanka, which didn’t happen and the prime minister later lost,” said Mr Khandelwal.

The government had no solid reason to oppose this case, he said, but the courts were under pressure due to Emergency.

“The question that I had raised in 1974 – they stand well even today and I firmly believe no government has any business to gift any part of India,” he said, adding, “I think the island belongs to us.”

The Katchatheevu row resurfaced after a media report based on an RTI reply received by Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai on the Indo-Sri Lankan maritime agreement in 1974.

In 1976, after the Tamil Nadu government was dismissed during the Emergency, another pact restricted fishermen of both countries from fishing in each other’s waters. The harassment of Tamil Nadu fishermen by Lankan authorities is a key issue in the state, and the BJP has raised this with an eye on the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

Doubling down on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s charge at Opposition over the Katchatheevu island row, External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar today said Jawaharlal Nehru, the country’s first Prime Minister, wanted to give away the island to Sri Lanka.

In 1974, the then Indira Gandhi government had accepted the island, about 1.6 km long and over 300 m wide, a Sri Lankan area under Indo-Sri Lankan maritime agreement. The issue has resurfaced after a media report based on a RTI reply received by Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai on the 1974 pact. In 1976, after the Tamil Nadu government was dismissed during the Emergency, another pact restricted fishermen of both countries from fishing in each other’s waters. The harassment of Tamil Nadu fishermen by Lankan authorities is a key issue in the state, and the BJP has raised this with an eye on the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

Addressing the media, Dr Jaishankar today quoted former External Affairs Minister Swaran Singh’s 1974 address in Parliament. “I feel confident that the agreement demarcating the maritime boundary in the Palk Bay will be considered as fair, just and equitable to both countries. At the same time, I wish to remind the honourable members that in concluding this agreement, the rights of fishing, pilgrimage and navigation, which both sides have enjoyed in the past, have been fully safeguarded for the future,” he said, quoting the former minister.

In less than two years, Dr Jaishankar said, there was another agreement between India and Sri Lanka. “In this agreement, India proposed the following: with the establishment of the exclusive economic zones by the two countries, India and Sri Lanka will exercise sovereign rights over the living and non-living resources of their respective zones. 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,” he said.

“(In) 1974, assurance is given. By 1976, an agreement is concluded which gives away this assurance,” he said.

The consequence, he said, is that 6,184 Indian fishermen have been detained in the last 20 years. In the same period, 1,175 Indian fishing vessels have been seized by Lankans, he added.

The Katchatheevu issue, he said, has been repeatedly raised in Parliament by various parties over the past five years. “In fact, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu has written to me numerous times. My record shows that I have replied to the current Chief Minister (MK Stalin) 21 times on this issue. This is not an issue which has suddenly surfaced. This is a live issue,” he said.

The Congress and DMK, he said, have approached the matter “as though they have no responsibility”. “We believe that the public has a right to know how this situation came about.”

“We know who did this, how the situation arose. What we do not know is who hid this, what has been concealed from the public,” he said.

India’s claim, he said, is mainly that the Kathatheevu island belonged to the Raja of Ramnad and that he had it from the British era. Later on, his rights moved to the Madras government. “The Indian view was also that there was no documentary evidence that Sri Lanka had an original title,” he said, adding that the Sri Lankan argument was that they have records going back to the 17th century.

After both India and Sri Lanka became independent, he said, there were issues between these countries about using this island. In 1974, Dr Jaishankar, said then Sri Lankan Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike and Mrs Gandhi spoke about this on the latter’s trip to India.

In 1958, then Attorney General MC Setalvad said in a legal opinion that while the matter is not free from difficulty, “the balance lies in favour of concluding that the sovereignty of the island was and is in India”, Dr Jaishankar said.

The key people, he said, were of the opinion that “we have a case” and felt that we must at least insist for fishing rights around the island. “The island was also given away in 1974 and the fishing rights in 1976,” he said.

“How did this happen has many aspects to it. One is the indifference shown by the central government and Prime Ministers of the day about the territory of India. The fact is, they simply did not care,” Dr Jaishankar said.

Quoting an observation by Prime Minister Nehru in May 1961, he said, “I attach no importance at all to this little island and I would have no hesitation in giving up our claim to it. I do not like matters like this pending indefinitely and being raised again and again in Parliament.”

“So, to Pandit Nehru, this was a little island, he saw it as a nuisance. For him, the sooner you give it away, the better,” the minister said.

This view, he said, continued in the Indira Gandhi era. Mrs Gandhi, he said, had remarked in a Congress meeting that this island was a “little rock”. “This dismissive attitude was the historic Congress attitude towards Katchatheevu.”

The External Affairs Minister’s press interaction came after Prime Minister Modi targeted the Congress for “callously” giving away the island to Lanka.

“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,” he said on X, sharing the report.” Sharing a media report that said Mrs Gandhi had taken then Chief Minister M Karunanidhi into confidence with regard to the decision on the island, the Prime Minister said DMK has “done nothing” to safeguard Tamil Nadu’s interests.

Congress’s Manickam Tagore hit back, calling the BJP’s charge on the issue a “diversionary tactic”. “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 Sri Lankan government. We are very clear that if our fishermen are attacked, we will raise our voices to take back Katchatheevu Island. But, in 10 years, Prime Minister Modi has failed to do so. They will not get even one seat in Tamil Nadu by these cheap tactics,” he said.

DMK’s A Saravanan said the External Affairs Minister has said nothing new. “The question is why the BJP is raking up this issue now. Because they are scared, they know they are going to lose this election and in Tamil Nadu, they are facing a rout. The Prime Minister cannot answer the question, why no flood relief for Tamil Nadu. He is now bringing up false bogeys,” he said.

A view of Katchatheevu in Sri Lanka.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

Katchatheevu islet, a part of Sri Lanka and located about 14 nautical miles from Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu, is back in the limelight for the wrong reasons.

On February 17, fishermen associations in Ramanathapuram district announced that they were boycotting the annual two-day festival, scheduled for February 23 and 24, at the St. Anthony’s Church in the uninhabited islet. Every year, this event brings together the people from both sides of the Palk Bay separating India and Sri Lanka. The fisherfolk also announced that they would observe an indefinite strike. These decisions were a mark of protest against the Sri Lankan government’s continuing arrests of Indian fishermen on charges of poaching.

Shift in approach

Though the response of the Sri Lankan authorities is not new, there seems to be a shift in the way the island nation’s judiciary treats those accused of poaching. In February, Sri Lankan Navy personnel arrested 42 fishermen belonging to Rameswaram and Thangachimadam in Ramanathapuram, as well as other regions in India, in two separate incidents. A Sri Lankan court sentenced five of those fishermen to prison terms of between six months and two years, for the repeat offence of poaching. While ordering the release of the rest, the court warned that they would have to serve a jail term if they were caught again. “The fishing community of Ramanathapuram district was shocked by this,” said fisher leader P. Jesu Raja.

According to one version, the original shrine of the Church was built by the Ramnad Diocese more than 100 years ago. As per the Sri Lankan Navy records, it was constructed in 1901. Though it was taken over by the Jaffna diocese after India ceded Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka in 1974, the two countries organise the festival together. In recent years, people from other States such as Karnataka have also been attending it.

Explained | The Katchatheevu controversy

Over the last 15-odd years, it has been a practice for the Church authorities to extend an invitation to the Verkodu parish, which, in turn, seeks applications from pilgrims. On producing valid documents, pilgrims are allowed to cross the Palk Strait using trawlers. Their actions are monitored by Central and State agencies such as the Customs and the Police. Apart from exchanging pleasantries and gifts, pilgrims from both sides also pray for improved relations between the two countries.

This year, the agitating fishermen and their families in Ramanathapuram argued that it wouldn’t be fair for them to participate in a festival held in Sri Lanka when their own “brothers” were in jail in the neighbouring country. They were staying away from the celebrations to show solidarity, they said.

Whenever fishermen from Tamil Nadu are arrested in Sri Lanka, India’s High Commission in Colombo and Consulate in Jaffna provide consular and legal assistance to the imprisoned fishermen and work towards their early release. New Delhi has been asking Colombo to treat the fishermen issue as “a purely humanitarian and livelihood concern.” It says both sides should ensure that force is not used under any circumstance. Even though the Sri Lankan authorities release the fishermen as a matter of routine, they do not return the impounded fishing vessels. The Ramanathapuram fishermen believe that this adds insult to injury. This time too, vessels were impounded and not returned.

Resolving the issue

For about 10 years, the fishermen have been hoping that their issue will get resolved. Sushma Swaraj, as External Affairs Minister, had even organised a high-level meeting of fishermen from both the countries to work out a solution. “But this could not deliver results fully due to various political developments,” Mr. Jesu Raja said.

Now, sections of the fisherfolk expect the Indian government to impress upon the Sri Lankan government to allow fishing activity in Katchatheevu, as was the practice in the past, and also retrieve the islet since the population of fishermen in Sri Lanka who depend on the Palk Bay is smaller compared to those from Tamil Nadu. But the Central government, which assured Sri Lanka that it would abolish bottom trawlers in a phased manner, hopes that the fishermen will diversify their activities to include deep sea fishing, seaweed cultivation, and open sea cage cultivation. If the fishermen are to do this. the deep-sea fishing scheme, which has been a non-starter so far, will have to be revised with liberal norms to ensure greater participation.