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Katchatheevu Island: Training his guns at the Congress for "callously" giving away the Katchatheevu island to Sri Lanka during the tenure of the Indira Gandhi government in 1974, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said that this "eye opening and startling" revelation has infuriated people, adding that the Congress can never be trusted.

Sharing a media report on his X handle, PM Modi wrote in the caption, "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".

The media report stems from an RTI reply, sought by Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai on the decision of the then Indira Gandhi government in 1974 to hand over the territory in Palk Strait to Sri Lanka. The report also cites first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru's comments on the issue, a source of dispute between India and Lanka, that he would have no hesitation in giving up claims on the island.

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Accusing the Congress of weakening India's unity, integrity and interests during its years of governance, PM Modi further wrote, "Weakening India's unity, integrity and interests has been Congress' way of working for 75 years and counting". The BJP is hopeful that the issue will come in handy to its efforts to gain political traction in the Dravidian state as it gears up for the Lok Sabha polls.

 

What Is Katchatheevu Island?

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The Katchatheevy island, located between Rameswaram (India) and Sri Lanka, was traditionally used by both Sri Lankan and Indian fishermen. 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.

This is not the first time when PM Modi has raked up the issue of Katchatheevu Island. In August last year, PM Modi attacked the Congress for dividing "Maa Bharati" into three parts for political interests and also pointed out that the Katchatheevu Island was ceded to Sri Lanka during the tenure of the Indira Gandhi government in 1974.

"While Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister, an aerial bombing in Mizoram happened and Katchatheevu island, now a part of Sri Lanka, was given to another country. Was it not a part of Maa Bharati?" he had said during his reply to a debate on a no-confidence motion.

Congress Reacts

Congress leaders called PM Modi's remark "selective pieces of propaganda" and questioned the work done under the ten years of the BJP-led central government. Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit said that the statement made by the Prime Minister is all because of the elections in Tamil Nadu, where all the "surveys show the BJP will be badly smashed."

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"The problem with the Prime Minister is that he makes statements without any references. If any agreement like this was made, we should know what it was. Secondly, what was the Prime Minister doing for 9 years then? If he was in a position of this information, why was he quiet about it all this while? These are selective pieces of propaganda that they fake out. It is all because elections are going on in Tamil Nadu. All the surveys show the BJP will be badly smashed in Tamil Nadu," he said.

 

(With Agencies Inputs)