- By Anushka Vats
- Mon, 01 Apr 2024 09:57 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
The island of Katchatheevu, a disputed area that the Congress government led by the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi gave to Sri Lanka, has now grabbed all the eyeballs after Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted about the same from his social media handle. Citing a report on the same, the Prime Minister launched an attack on the grand old party saying that it can't be trusted.
"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," said PM Modi in a post on X.
"Weakening India's unity, integrity and interests has been Congress' way of working for 75 years and counting," he wrote citing a report by the Times of India that is based on based on an RTI's response to Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai.
Let's take a look at what is the controversy about and what has happened so far:
- During the INDIA bloc's maharally at New Delhi, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused Prime Minister Modi of trying to do "match-fixing" in the Lok Sabha polls and asserted that if the BJP succeeds in its endeavours, the country's Constitution will be changed and people's rights taken away.
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- Responding to the same, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla slammed Congress and said, "Some people are talking about match-fixing. In 1974, the Indira Gandhi government, compromising the country's national interest and the interest of the people of Tamil Nadu, handed over Katchatheevu island to Sri Lanka to benefit the Congress' first family...Rahul Gandhi ji, your family had done a deal-fixing.
- Meanwhile, citing the official 'file notings' of the Jawaharlal Nehru era obtained through RTI, Tamil Nadu BJP President K Annamalai on Sunday alleged the first Prime Minister of the nation was inclined to give away Katchatheevu island to Sri Lanka despite opinion that endorsed India's sovereignty.
- Speaking to reporters, Annamalai said the ceding of Katchatheevu was a "mystery, who gave it and under what circumstances, this was a mystery," and the vexatious issue continues to resonate in Tamil Nadu since then. Nehru had termed the issue "a small matter" and that the first PM had no hesitation in ceding it to the neighbouring country, the BJP leader alleged.
- Amid the ongoing controversy, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge hit back at PM Modi and asked why he did not take steps to get it back during his 10-year rule and alleged that raising the "sensitive" issue ahead of elections shows his "desperation". The opposition leader also questioned why the prime minister gave a "clean chit" to China after 20 bravehearts made supreme sacrifice in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh.
- Kharge said that Katchatheevu island was given to Sri Lanka as part of a friendly agreement in 1974 and reminded the Modi government that it too had undertaken a similar "friendly gesture" towards Bangladesh in exchange for border enclaves.
- Notably, in 1974, then prime minister Indira Gandhi accepted Katchatheevu as Sri Lankan territory under the "Indo-Sri Lankan Maritime agreement".
- The 1974 Agreement regarding historic waters between Sri Lanka and India in the Palk Strait and the Palk Bay formally confirmed Sri Lanka's sovereignty over the Island.
- The ceding of the island in 1974 seriously affected Tamil Nadu fishermen and it also led to politics over the travails of fishers, he said. Hence, Annamalai said he sought information using RTI from the Ministry of External Affairs.
- Tamil Nadu is home to the majority of Indian fishermen who enter the area and are prosecuted by the Lankan government.
(With inputs from agencies)