Katchatheevu Island Controversy

Territorial integrity and sovereignty of India is non-negotiable. Nation is defined by its resolve to uphold its frontiers. In a new political development an old controversy has emerged on the national scene. It concerns the Katchatheevu Island. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tamil Nadu chief K. Annamalai has obtained the documents that reveal the Congress party never attached importance to a small island. In a report published in the national daily, independent India’s first Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru had once remarked that he wont hesitate “in giving up the claims to the island” altogether. This is not a new story but an old one that was hidden in the political backyard of India, though partially. Indira Gandhi later as the Prime Minister relinquished Indian claim over the island in 1974. This 285 acre island is in the Palk Strait, between India and Sri Lanka. It is 1.6 km in length and 300m wide. It is about 2 km southwest of Jaffna in the north of Sri Lanka and 24 km away from the inhabited Deft Island that belongs to Sri Lanka. This issue gained traction when on 31st March, Sunday Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted on the social networking site X stating “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!” Even the External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has taken Congress head on this development and held Jawahar Lal Nehru responsible for bartering away the Indian Territory and compromising the integrity of India. He also expressed concern over the rights of fishermen who had demanded fishing rights in Katchatheevu Island. It must be noted that in the early mediaeval period, it was controlled by the Jaffna kingdom of Sri Lanka. In the 17th century, control passed to the Ramnad zamindari based out of Ramanathapuram, about 55 km northwest of Rameswaram. It became part of the Madras Presidency during the British Raj. But in 1921, both India and Sri Lanka, at the time British colonies, claimed Katchatheevu in order to determine fishing boundaries. A survey marked Katchatheevu in Sri Lanka, but a British delegation from India challenged this, citing ownership of the island by the Ramnad kingdom. In 1974, Indira Gandhi made attempts to settle the maritime border between India and Sri Lanka, once and for all. As a part of this settlement, known as the ‘Indo-Sri Lankan Maritime agreement’, Indira Gandhi ‘ceded’ Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka. At the time, she thought the island had little strategic value and that ceasing India’s claim over the island would deepen its ties with its southern neighbour.The issue of fishing rights was not ironed out by the agreement. Sri Lanka interpreted Indian fishermen’s right to access Katchatheevu to be limited to “rest, drying nets and for visit to the Catholic shrine without visa. This island has a Church and no settlement. However, between 1983 and 2009, the border dispute remained on the back burner as a bloody civil war raged in Sri Lanka. With the Sri Lankan naval forces preoccupied with their task of cutting off supply lines of the LTTE based out of Jaffna, incursions by Indian fishermen well into Sri Lankan waters were commonplace. Bigger Indian trawlers were especially resented as they would not only tend to overfish but also damage Sri Lankan fishing nets and boats. This is an election season and Congress has been checkmated in its own game. Congress has been accusing the incumbent regime of bartering away the Indian territory to China. But this new development has taken the wind out of the Congress sails. One thing is clear that national opinion has reached the level of no compromise on territorial integrity. Nation is in no mood to squander the national interests and wants the political parties in general and the ruling party in particular to uphold and defend the boundaries of the nation. With the issue of Katchatheevu in the public domain the Congress party will have to give many answers. As its history of being lackadaisical on territorial and boundary issues has been consistent. Be it the Pakistani invasion in 1947 on Jammu and Kashmir or the debacle in the India-China War of 1962, Congress was caught on the back foot.