New Delhi: The political drama with the Indian prime minister Narendra Modi raking up the Katchatheevu island issue ahead of Lok Sabha elections has increased anxiety in Sri Lanka, with the local media monitoring the situation and observing that it does not bode well for bilateral ties.
Earlier this week, the Indian PM amplified a response to a Right to Information response received by the BJP Tamil Nadu president K. Annamalai on Katchatheevu, claiming that the Ministry of External Affairs’ historical records show that the Congress and its ally Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam collaborated to “give away” the island to Sri Lanka in the 1974 bilateral agreement on maritime boundaries in the Palk Strait.
He repeated this claim several times, with the external affairs minister S. Jaishankar also weighing in with a press conference.
While there was no official statement from the Sri Lankan government, the political furore had clearly registered in the Indian Ocean island state.
Across the board in Sri Lanka’s English language media, there were concerns that the mention or use of the Katchatheevu by the Indian prime minister himself – ostensibly for electoral gains – would be harmful for ties.
‘Needless baiting’
“It risks eroding a bank of goodwill India has worked tirelessly to build in Sri Lanka since 2014, and especially since effort invested following the Covid-19 Pandemic/economic crisis period. This unnecessary move, possibly aimed at short-term political gain before polls, and merely months after India’s debacle in the Maldives, where today China is gaining influence, will do little to consolidate cross Palk Strait relations,” said an editorial of The Morning newspaper.
Describing the combined verbal rhetoric from Modi and Jaishankar as “needless baiting” of a “friendly neighbour”, the newspaper also said that the “unnecessary weaponisation of Katchatheevu by the Indian Central Government, will also give fuel for nationalistic elements in Sri Lanka to view other powers who Sri Lanka does not have territorial disputes with as being more cordial to work with”.
“The Indian administration is surely aware of the many other powers who would wish to take advantage of the erosion of goodwill between the Palk Strait neighbours,” the editorial concluded.
‘Had information for a decade’
Similarly, Ceylon Today wrote in an editorial, “A tale of troubled waters”, that the “speck of island’ continues to focus of discussion across the border, “but as far as we are concerned, it is a deal done and dusted”.
“If at all, this looks like a reason that might bring into question our bilateral ties,” it noted.
The Sri Lankan newspaper also noted that it was “interesting is that this information that PM Modi always had access to, for nearly a decade, has now been chosen to provide full transparency to the misled people of Tamil Nadu”.
“Or perhaps there is no correlation between the BJP accusing the Opposition Congress and DMK for “callously” giving the Island away. Perhaps, them riling up in the State of Tamil Nadu, where DMK is in power, is just a coincidence as it is also a State where the BJP, not so subtly, is attempting to weasel their way in, in time for the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections,” said the article.
‘Like Rip Van Winkle’
Highlighting the electoral expediency behind the Indian PM’s utterances, the Daily Mirror wrote, “On Monday, Modi –India’s Prime Minister since 2014 -suddenly, like Rip Van Winkle of yore awoke from a deep decade-long slumber. The Lankan island of Katchchatheevu he claimed was part of India”.
The newspaper asserted that Sri Lankans “expected more of Indian leaders and have often tended to look at its top leaders as statesmen and stateswomen rather than opportunistic politicians”.
It also separately mentioned that it was disappointing that the “seemingly unflappable Indian External Affairs Minister – Jaishankar – has dropped all pretence of statesmanship and has joined hands with his premier to rouse communal feelings in the hope of gaining a few votes in Tamil Nadu”.
The Daily Mirror pointed out that Indian interference in Sri Lankan affairs had led to a three-decade old civil war, economic ruin, deaths of thousands of Indian peacekeeping troops and a former Indian prime minister.“We are hopeful for the sake of all concerned, saner counsel will prevail and Lanka will not be dragged into what is essentially an Indian party political problem. Lanka desires to be left to its own devices away from India’s internal politics,” it said.
The newspaper also published an opinion piece that referred to an out-of-publication of a book written by a retired Sri Lankan bureaucrat, who was part of bilateral negotiations, on how the maritime boundary was demarcated and Katchatheevu island had always been under Sri Lankan sovereignty.
‘Dog whistle’
In a strident editorial, the Daily FT, a Sri Lankan business paper, described the Modi’s statements on Katchatheevu as “a distortion of the facts, a dog whistle to South Indian nationalism and a dangerous and unnecessary provocation of a friendly neighbour that could have serious repercussions”.
The newspaper claimed that Sri Lanka had compromised when it came to demarcating the maritime boundary which had significantly reduced Colombo’s claim over fishing waters. “The spirit of friendship and amicable settlement was considered more important by both sides during these negotiations”.
The Sri Lankan newspaper observed that with the Indian PM himself raising an issue that has been political hot potato in Tamil Nadu, is provocative enough for Colombo to consider looking for friends in other regions.
“The constant provocative claims on Sri Lankan territory, especially from the highest echelons of power in India, would only force our country to seek security guarantees elsewhere. Having learnt the art of diplomacy from Ashoka and strategy from Kautilya, it would be tragic for all concerned if Sri Lanka needs to apply the foreign policy theory of Rajamandala to find ‘friends’ elsewhere to protect itself against a ‘near foe’,” wrote The Daily FT.
