Chennai: Parties in Tamil Nadu have collectively pounced on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for raking up the Katchatheevu island issue weeks before the general elections.
The ruling DMK, the AIADMK, and the Congress have asked Modi what he had done about the issue in the last 10 years in power, hinting that he was only trying to exploit the matter to make inroads in the southern state where the BJP’s chances are at best modest.
Referring to a news report on 31 March, Modi criticised the Congress for “callously” giving away the Katchatheevu island to Sri Lanka.
On 1 April, he cited another report and said that “DMK has done nothing to safeguard Tamil Nadu’s interests”, adding that new details emerging on Katchatheevu have unmasked the DMK’s double standards.
The Congress immediately jumped to defend the international treatise with Sri Lanka in 1974 when under the premiership of Indira Gandhi, India had ended a dispute over fishing rights with its neighbour by relinquishing any claim over the island.
In 1976, India and Sri Lanka signed another agreement that prevented people from both countries from fishing in each other’s waters.
The 1.9 square km island in the Palk Strait — dividing the two countries — has no drinking water source and the only structure there is a church which hosts an annual three-day festival, drawing devotees from both countries.
Political parties in Tamil Nadu have regularly raised the issue as fishermen from the state have often been arrested by Sri Lankan authorities when entering the country’s waters, including around Katchatheevu.
Also read: India, Sri Lanka paid heavy price for Katchatheevu claims. Tiny island not worth obsessing over
‘What have you done for Tamil people?’
All Tamil parties, except a BJP ally, took umbrage at Modi dragging in an international treaty into domestic politics.
Taking to X on 1 April, DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin accused Modi — without naming him — of having “slept like Kumbhakarna” for 10 years over Katchatheevu. He asked three questions, including on the devolution of Centre-state funds and the lack of BJP-implemented special schemes in the state.
He wrote: “For those who have slept like Kumbhakarna for 10 years and staged a sudden love drama over fishermen ahead of the election, Tamil Nadu people have three questions to ask.”
At a campaign in Vellore on Tuesday, Stalin asked if the Prime Minister had even once raised the issue with his Sri Lanka counterpart during his 10-year rule. He wondered if Modi had ever condemned the arrests of Tamil fishermen by the Sri Lankan navy.
Tamil Nadu’s opposition party AIADMK also reacted Tuesday in Vellore, when party general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami challenged the BJP to file an affidavit in the Supreme Court to reconsider the ceding treaty.
AIADMK’s former general secretary and former chief minister late J. Jayalalithaa had filed a revenue case before the Supreme Court in 2011, seeking to retrieve Katchatheevu. The case is pending before the top court.
Stating that the Congress and the DMK were in power when the island was ceded, Palaniswami said the only person to fight for Katchatheevu was Jayalalithaa.
He also charged the BJP of bringing up the issue only for political mileage, by targeting the votes of fishermen.
On Wednesday, Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K. Selvaperunthagai accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman of spreading false information about the issue.
He also asked the BJP to talk about what India got instead of Katchatheevu and how that has helped fishermen.
In the 1976 review agreement, India secured the Wadge Bank located below Kanyakumari which is 80 times bigger than Katchatheevu and with extensive sea resources.
Selvaperunthagai remarked that Modi’s statement had created tension among Tamils in Sri Lanka, citing remarks of the Sri Lankan media on the recent developments in India.
DMK ally Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi leader Thol Thirumavalan asked the BJP to concentrate on retrieving the land encroached by China under the BJP government, instead of “staging a drama” over the Katchatheevu issue.
On the campaign trail Wednesday, Thirumavalan said the BJP had been exposed among Tamil Nadu, asking: “Why could you not retrieve the land for the past 10 years, when you were in power at the Centre.”
The only party in Tamil Nadu that supported the BJP was coalition partner Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK). Party founder S. Ramadoss attacked the Congress and sought to know why the DMK was in alliance with it.
Ramadoss said giving away the island was “an unforgivable betrayal” by the Indira Gandhi government, and added that its repercussions were still being felt as over 800 fishermen have lost their lives and thousands have been detained by Sri Lanka.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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As I read the topic headlines, it is better BJP exposed than Congress and DMK making every one to forget it; the fact which ex-CM Dr. JJeyalaitha keeps informing against DMK in the secretariat; we guessed, it could be a fact, but now confirmed it is 100% truth…