Prime Minister Narendra Modi rebuked the Congress on Sunday for its alleged negligence in ceding the Katchatheevu island to Sri Lanka. His remarks came in response to an RTI response, revealing that the Indira Gandhi-led government handed over the island to Sri Lanka in 1974.
PM Modi wrote on X that the Congress party cannot be trusted after sharing a news article that detailed the events that led to Sri Lanka's takeover of the island.
The article claims that former Prime Minister (late) Jawaharlal Nehru dismissed the issue as insignificant. It also claimed that the article was dropped despite the Opposition's strong objections to the decision.
The report cited an RTI response obtained by Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai, the Indira Gandhi government handed over control of Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka in 1974. Official documents and parliamentary records show how India lost control of the island in the Palk Strait.
According to the documents obtained by K Annamalai, Sri Lanka compensates for its small size by tenaciously pursuing the 1.9 square kilometres of land about 20 kilometres from the Indian shore, based on claims that New Delhi contested for decades before finally acquiescing. Sri Lanka, then Ceylon, pressed its claim shortly after independence, claiming that the Indian Navy (then Royal Indian Navy) could not conduct exercises on the island without its permission.
In October 1955, the Ceylon Air Force held an exercise on the island. Its stance was reflected in a minute issued by the first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, on May 10, 1961, dismissing the issue as insignificant.
Earlier this month, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin claimed that the Prime Minister "blatantly lied" at a rally in Kanyakumari on March 15 that Tamil Nadu fishermen were only facing trouble from Sri Lanka because of the DMK's "sin" in the past.