PM Modi stated on social media site X about how the Congress “callously” gave away the Katchatheevu island to Sri Lanka, which “angered every Indian and reaffirmed in people’s minds – we cannot ever trust Congress”. He mentioned a report by The Times of India that explains why the Congress made that
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday slammed Congress over the controversial Katchatheevu island that was given away to Sri Lanka by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1974. The Katchatheevu Island row is currently fuelling the Tamil Nadu politics and beyond ahead of the Lok Sabha Election.
Current Political Row
PM Modi stated on social media site X about how the Congress “callously” gave away the Katchatheevu island to Sri Lanka, which “angered every Indian and reaffirmed in people’s minds – we cannot ever trust Congress”. He mentioned a report by The Times of India that explains why the Congress made that decision.
The report mentions Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai, who through an RTI application, got documents that uncovered how Sri Lanka managed its lack of size with “tenacious pursuit of 1.9 square km of land about 20 km from Indian shore based on claims which New Delhi contested for decades”.
Post Independence, Sri Lanka enforced its rights, and did not permit the Indian Navy to conduct exercises on the island without its permission.
The then-prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, rubbished off the issue as trivial. “I attach no importance to all to this little island and I would have no hesitation in giving up our claims to it, ” Nehru wrote on May 10, 1961, Nehru was quoted by Times of India as saying.
Why the issue became political?
In 1968, the Opposition targeted the Indira Gandhi government for talking with the Sri Lankan Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake who claimed that the the island in their country on the maps.
The Opposition was suspicious of a big deal being negotiated between Indira Gandhi and Senanayake. The Congress rubbished off the allegations about the deal, and defended that “India’s claim had to be balanced” with the need for “good bilateral ties”.
In 1973, foreign secretary-level talks took place in Colombo about the disputed island. Thereafter, the decision to restore India’s claim was messaged to then Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi in June by foreign secretary Kewal Singh.
The foreign secretary asserted that “Sri Lanka had taken a very strong determined position” based on “records” showing the island was part of the area of Jaffnapatnam, Dutch and British maps.”
He added that Sri Lanka had claimed its sovereignty since 1925 without protests from India, and mentioned a second opinion of 1970 by the then attorney general that “the sovereignty over Katchatheevu was and is with Ceylon and not with India”, as quoted by The Times of India. In 1974, the Indian government handed over the island to Sri Lanka in pursuit of maintaining a bilateral partnership.
History of the land
Katchatheevu is an uninhabited off-shore island situated in the Palk Strait. It was carved due to volcanic eruptions in the 14th century. The 285-acre land was jointly administered by India and Sri Lanka during British rule.In the 17th century, authority shifted to the Ramnad zamindari of Ramanathapuram, about 55 km northwest of Rameswaram. In 1921, both Sri Lanka and India claimed the land for fishing and the dispute remained unsolved. Post India’s Independence, the country began to solve the territory dispute between Ceylon and the British.
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 "What is Katchatheevu island row between India and Sri Lanka? What it has resurfaced before Lok Sabha Elections 2024?")
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