India (Commonwealth Union)_ Ahead of the Lok Sabha Polls, a political contention has arisen within India over the status of a small, unoccupied island, which lies within Sri Lankan territory. This island, known as Katchatheevu, spans a mere 1.9 square kilometers (0.7 square miles) and is located in the Palk Strait, marking the boundary between India and Sri Lanka. Situated northeast of India’s Rameswaram town in the state of Tamil Nadu and southwest of Sri Lanka’s Jaffna city, Katchatheevu lacks basic amenities such as a source of potable water. Its sole structure, a solitary church, holds an annual three-day festival that draws devotees from both nations.
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Back in 1921, during the British colonial era, both India and Sri Lanka asserted fishing rights in the waters surrounding Katchatheevu. However, in 1974, India resolved the issue by giving up its claim to the island. Subsequently, an agreement was reached between India and Sri Lanka barring citizens of both nations from fishing in each other’s waters. But now, the issue has been brought up again by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi in recent times accusing the opposition Congress party for surrendering the island to Sri Lanka. Accordingly, evidence recovered by K. Annamalai, the BJP’s chief in Tamil Nadu, shed light on discussions within the Indian government regarding Katchatheevu during the 1960s. Though some officials supported India’s historical sovereignty over the island, India ultimately surrendered it to Sri Lanka.
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Modi’s remarks come from recent disclosures by a leader of his Bharatiya Janata Party regarding government deliberations on Katchatheevu during the 1960s. Accordingly, PM Modi labeled the resurgence of decade-old Katchatheevu row as ‘eye opening and startling!’. His Twitter message stated, “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!”
In response, opposition leaders claimed that Modi’s party is trying to use the sensitive Katchatheevu matter, particularly significant in Tamil Nadu, to amass votes in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. According to the Congress party, the decade-old issue has been brought up by the BJP to attract the fishermen community votes in the Indian general election in Tamil Nadu, which is due to be held on 19 April. Notably, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has long been striving to make inroads in the state, where it lost all 39 seats of Tamil Nadu in India’s 545-member parliament during the 2019 election.
The Katchatheevu row also sparked a contention within Sri Lanka, resulting in heated debates and expression of disapproval between the ministers. Accordingly, Minister of Fisheries, Douglas Devananda, dismissed India’s assertions of ‘reclaiming’ Katchatheevu, stating that they are baseless. Devananda’s remarks followed accusations by the Narendra Modi government against the Congress Party and its ally, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), in Tamil Nadu, accusing them of neglecting national interests when they gave up Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka in 1974.
Furthermore, Devananda emphasized that India’s purported interest in securing Katchatheevu aims to restrict access to Sri Lankan fishermen, denying Sri Lanka any claim to the resource-rich area. According to Devananda, the 1974 agreement initially allowed fishermen from both countries to fish in each other’s territorial waters. However, it was later revised and amended in 1976, prohibiting fishermen from both nations from fishing in neighboring waters. Devananda also highlighted another contentious area known as the West Bank, located south of Kanyakumari, which he claimed is significantly larger and richer in marine resources compared to Katchatheevu. He noted that India secured control over this area during the 1976 review agreement.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) of India refrained from directly engaging in the Katchatheevu dispute. When questioned about the issue, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal directed attention to recent comments by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, urging reporters to refer to his press engagements for clarification on the matter. Despite the current legal arguments in court about the agreement, India’s foreign minister, S Jaishankar, said that the matter had been kept secret from the public for an extended period of time. However, when asked if they would look again at the agreement from 1974, he explained that the issue is still being decided in court.
In 2013, the Indian Government told the Supreme Court that they cannot get Katchatheevu back from Sri Lanka because it was never marked on a map and is still being argued over. Additionally, Mukul Rohatgi, who used to be India’s top lawyer, said the same thing, adding that India would need to fight a war to get Katchatheevu back. However, BJP’s Annamalai says that the central government wants to take back Katchatheevu in order to protect the fishermen of Tamil Nadu. But the government of Sri Lanka has so far maintained a firm response contending that Katchatheevu belongs to them and they are waiting to hear from India about who controls the island.
