Indira Gandhi Govt Gave Away Katchatheevu Island To Sri Lanka? Row Erupts Over RTI Details: Top Points

Katchatheevu Island Issue:  Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday condemned the Congress party for what he perceives as a detrimental decision to relinquish control of the Katchatheevu island to Sri Lanka. His remarks come in response to a media report detailing how the Indira Gandhi-led government handed over the disputed island to Sri Lanka in 1974.

The island, positioned between Rameswaram (India) and Sri Lanka, was traditionally utilised by fishermen from both countries. However, in 1974, then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi conceded Katchatheevu to Sri Lankan jurisdiction.

PM Modi’s disapproval was echoed by several leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who shared a link to the Times of India article on X (formerly Twitter) and admonished the Congress for relinquishing control over the island in the Palk Strait.

The article claims that the late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru dismissed the significance of the issue as inconsequential, despite opposition protests against the decision.

It is to be noted that this revelation comes just weeks before the commencement of the Lok Sabha elections.

READ | ‘Weakening India’s Unity’: PM Modi Slams Congress For ‘Callously’ Giving Away Katchatheevu Island To Sri Lanka

The Katchatheevu Issue: Top Points

1) With the Lok Sabha Election 2024 looming, the BJP is aiming to highlight the cession of Katchatheevu as a major electoral issue, particularly to counter the I.N.D.I.A bloc partners DMK and Congress, given that the decision was made during their governance.

2) Another agreement, signed during the Emergency in the absence of a government in Tamil Nadu, delineated areas where fishing activities were prohibited for fishermen from both nations. This agreement, signed on March 23, 1976, aimed to regulate maritime boundaries between India and Sri Lanka in the Gulf of Mannar and the Bay of Bengal.

3) Tamil Nadu’s fishermen have frequently encountered conflicts with Sri Lankan authorities during their fishing expeditions around Katchatheevu.

4) According to the article referenced by PM Modi, Nehru expressed willingness to relinquish India’s claims to the island. This information was gleaned from a note prepared by the then Commonwealth Secretary Y D Gundevia and shared by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) as background information with the informal Consultative Committee of Parliament in 1968.

5) Despite the legal opinion of the then Attorney General M C Setalvad in 1960, which favoured India’s sovereignty over the island, India remained indecisive until formally renouncing its claim in 1974.

6) As per the MEA documents cited by TOI in its report, it reveal internal deliberations regarding India’s stance on the issue, with officials expressing uncertainty about the legality of the situation. However, there were also indications of India’s strong legal case to secure fishing rights for its fishermen, who often face detainment by the Sri Lankan Navy.

7) Despite these deliberations, the Congress government proceeded to relinquish India’s claim to the island in 1974. This decision was met with opposition criticism, particularly amid suspicions of a clandestine deal between Indira Gandhi and her Sri Lankan counterpart Dudley Senanayke during his 1968 visit.

8) Last year, PM Modi reiterated in Parliament that the decision to cede Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka was made under the leadership of Indira Gandhi, criticising the Congress for its role in the matter.

“These people divided mother India into three parts for political reasons,” PM Modi stated in the Lok Sabha. “Katchatheevu is an island situated between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka. Someone gave it to another country. “It happened under Indira Gandhi’s leadership,” he explained.

9) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin accused the Prime Minister of distorting history and reiterated the DMK’s opposition to the Katchatheevu handover during the Congress regime.

“The Tamil Nadu people are well aware of the true history, which is that the Katchatheevu island was ceded to Sri Lanka (1974, 1976 agreements) despite stiff opposition from the DMK government. “Is the Prime Minister so naive as to believe that a state government can give away a portion of the country to another country?” Stalin wrote in a post on X.