Day after attacking Congress, PM Modi targets DMK on Katchatheevu island issue

Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Pic/PTI

After sharing a news article giving a detailed account of events that led to Sri Lanka overtaking the Katchatheevu island, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday targeted the DMK over the Katchatheevu island issue, alleging the ruling party of Tamil Nadu did nothing to safeguard the state's interests.

New details emerging on the issue of India handing over the Katchatheevu island to Sri Lank have unmasked the DMK's double standards totally, he said on X, citing a news report which claimed that then chief minister M Karunanidhi had given his concurrence to the agreement despite his party the DMK's public posturing against the deal.

The media report is based on an RTI reply received by Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai to his queries on the 1974 agreement between India and Lanka when Indira Gandhi was the prime minister.

PM Modi said, "Rhetoric aside, DMK has done NOTHING to safeguard Tamil Nadu's interests. New details emerging on Katchatheevu have UNMASKED the DMK's double standards totally."

"The Congress and DMK are family units. They only care that their own sons and daughters rise. They don't care for anyone else. Their callousness on Katchatheevu has harmed the interests of our poor fishermen and fisherwomen in particular," he added.

The prime minister on Sunday targeted the Congress over the issue.

He said, "Weakening India's unity, integrity and interests has been the Congress' way of working for 75 years and counting."

The BJP is hopeful that the issue will come in handy in its efforts to gain political traction in the Dravidian territory during the Lok Sabha polls, more so as it involves neighbouring Sri Lanka whose treatment of its own Tamilian citizens and Tamil Nadu fishermen has long been a charged political issue in the state.

It is pertinent to mention that the island, located between Rameswaram (India) and Sri Lanka, was traditionally used by both Sri Lankan and Indian fishermen. In 1974, then prime minister Indira Gandhi accepted Katchatheevu as Sri Lankan territory under the "Indo-Sri Lankan Maritime agreement". The 1974 Agreement regarding historic waters between Sri Lanka and India in the Palk Strait and the Palk Bay formally confirmed Sri Lanka's sovereignty over the Island.

Meanwhile, EAM S Jaishankar also took on the Congress and the DMK for their indifference towards the island.

"In the last 20 years, 6184 Indian fishermen have been detained by Sri Lanka and 1175 Indian fishing vessels have been seized, detained or apprehended by Sri Lanka. This is the background of the issue that we are discussing. In the last five years, the Katchatheevu issue and the Fisherman's issue have been repeatedly raised by various parties in the Parliament. It has come up in parliament questions, debates and in the consultative committee. The then CM of Tamil Nadu has written to me numerous times. And my record shows that to the current CM, I have replied 21 times on this issue. This is not an issue which has suddenly surfaced. This is a live issue. It is an issue which has been very much debated in parliament and in the Tamil Nadu circles. It has been the subject of correspondence between the union government and the state government," the EAM said.

(With inputs from Agencies)