Training his guns on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over continued attacks on Indian fishermen by the Sri Lankan navy, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Friday said the Union government led by him was "weak". Addressing a fishermen's welfare conference in Ramanathapuram, Stalin pitched for the retrieval of Katchatheevu, an island ceded to Sri Lanka by way of mutual agreements in 1974, PTI reported.
Stalin said the retrieval of Katchatheevu island was the permanent solution to the fishermen issue. The DMK supremo also said his father and late chief minister M Karunanidhi had provided a report to the Centre that Katchatheevu belongs to India.
The island, located between Rameswaram in India and Sri Lanka, was traditionally used by both Sri Lankan and Indian fishermen to rest or dry their nets. In 1974, then prime minister Indira Gandhi accepted Katchatheevu as Sri Lankan territory under the "Indo-Sri Lankan Maritime agreement".
Stalin alleged that attacks on Indian fishermen from Tamil Nadu by the Lankan navy had increased during the current NDA regime. The conference condemned the harassment of Indian fishermen by the Sri Lankan navy.
Stalin's remark comes after PM Modi said it was the Indira Gandhi government that gave Katchatheevu island to Sri Lanka in 1974.
During the debate on no-confidence motion in Lok Sabha, PM Modi, attacking Congress, said, "These people divided mother India into three parts for politics."
Modi further added that the DMK government in Tamil Nadu keeps writing to him urging him to retrieve the island. This was in reference to Stalin’s request to raise the issue of the retrieval of the Katchatheevu island during Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s visit to New Delhi in July.
In his letter, Stalin claimed that the ceding of the island in 1974 occurred without the consent of the state government. The Chief Minister also called upon the Centre to initiate diplomatic efforts for the retrieval of Katchatheevu. Stalin said that the Tamil Nadu government and the DMK had been in the forefront for upholding the rights and aspirations of Tamils in Sri Lanka since 1956.