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‘No Impact’, ‘Smokescreen’ Say DMK, AIADMK as BJP Takes Katchatheevu Route to TN

politics
In 2024, Modi has set himself and his party the task of 400 seats with the slogan “ab ki bar, 400 paar” in which Tamil Nadu – which will vote in a single phase on April 19 – is crucial to meet that target.
BJP's Tamil Nadu president K. Annamalai holding a picture of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a campaign rally. Photo: X/@annamalai_k
BJP's Tamil Nadu president K. Annamalai holding a picture of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a campaign rally. Photo: X/@annamalai_k

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s attempt to revive the decades-old issue of the Katchatheevu Island in Sri Lanka, to make inroads into Tamil Nadu by making it the focal point of its Lok Sabha election campaign, just weeks ahead of polls, will have “no impact” on the southern state, according to state parties the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK).

“It is an absolute smokescreen and there is no basis for the BJP to make these claims at the end of 10 years of government and having not raised this during that period,” said Manuraj Shunmugasundaram, DMK spokesperson, to The Wire.

The opposition AIADMK, while accusing the DMK and the Congress of “betraying” Tamil Nadu over Katchatheevu, said that it will not make an impact in the upcoming elections in the state.

“It will not make any impact, whether in urban or rural areas,” said C.T.R. Nirmalkumar of the AIADMK to The Wire. 

“Everyone knows that this was a great betrayal by the DMK and the Congress but this will have no impact because in the last ten years, the BJP has not understood Tamil Nadu, that it is a different landscape and here they are now speaking about dynasty and Katchatheevu.”

While the BJP under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has swept the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections, it has failed to make an impact in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. In 2019, the party drew a blank as the DMK-led front won 38 of the 39 Lok Sabha seats in the state, and in the 2014 elections it won only one seat when the AIADMK won 37 seats (one seat was won by the PMK).

However, in 2024, Modi has set himself and his party the task of 400 seats with the slogan “ab ki bar, 400 paar” in which Tamil Nadu – which will vote in a single phase on April 19 – is crucial to meet that target.

Accordingly, the revival of the Katchatheevu issue, was spearheaded by none other than Modi himself when he sought to draw attention to “eye opening and startling” new facts brought out by a Right to Information (RTI) response received by BJP state unit chief K. Annamalai on March 31.

How Modi spearheaded resurgence of Katchatheevu

Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Modi shared an article by the Times of India which included details received in the RTI response provided by the Ministry of External Affairs to Annamalai, and accused the Congress and the DMK of harming the interests of the state’s fisherman while compromising on India’s “unity and integrity” by “callously’ giving away Katchatheevu.

In another tweet the next day (April 1), Modi accused the two parties of dynastic politics and said that 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.”

Annamalai, the BJP candidate from Coimbatore, said in a video message posted on X on March 31 that the Congress had “ceded” territory to Sri Lanka and that the DMK had colluded with the grand old party.

In another address the next day, Annamalai, demanded that Tamil Nadu chief minister M.K. Stalin should apologise “unconditionally to the fishermen of the state for putting their lives at risk for the last 50 years.”

He also said that former chief minister M. Karunanidhi was consulted twice by the then Union government before the island was ceded and “for obvious political reasons he would not take an open public stand in accepting the centre’s decision. But, he assured the Foreign Secretary that he would keep the reaction low-key and not allow it to be played up.”

The same day, external affairs minister S. Jaishankar also held a press conference at the BJP’s headquarters in New Delhi and claimed that government documents show that Karunanidhi had been aware that the island would not fall under Indian territory under the bilateral agreement.

Referring to the documents released by his ministry, Jaishankar said that the “public has the right to know.”

“The public has a right to know,” said Jaishankar at the press conference. “How was this agreement reached and how was Katchatheevu given away? How was the fishing issue handled?”

Watch: PrimeTime | Kathchatheevu: How Modi Distorted Facts to Pick Fight With Sri Lanka for Votes

The issue around the small uninhabited island, situated in the Palk Bay between India and Sri Lanka, was settled by the 1974 and 1976 agreements between the two countries that settled the maritime boundary. The deal involved India dropping its claim to the island, which was already in Sri Lanka’s possession and in return, Sri Lanka recognising Indian sovereignty over Wadge Bank, where the Modi government has only recently invited bids for oil exploration.

The use of the Katchatheevu issue by the BJP to mount an attack on the Congress and the DMK, through the prime minister and the external affairs minister themselves have raised key diplomatic questions involving a friendly country and concerns over putting a spanner in the relations between India and Sri Lanka.

Jaishankar too dodged questions on whether New Delhi was looking at re-opening the treaty and talking with Sri Lanka during his press conference.

In its first response, since the matter was raised, Sri Lanka on April 4, stated that there was “no need” to discuss Katchatheevu as the issue had already been resolved 50 years ago. Several Lankan newspapers have however published editorials critical of Modi for raking up the issue for electoral gain.

The same concern has been raised by both the DMK and the AIADMK.

“BJP’s claims hollow”

“The hollowness of the BJP’s claim is apparent from the fact that their own BJP president files an RTI and within 5 days there is a response with ‘startling details’ and what is really startling is that the prime minister of the country who has access to all information only comes to know about it after this RTI reply. So that really goes to show the hollowness of this whole exercise,” said Shunmugasundaram.

The RTI documents referred to by the BJP have also come under question, after Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi, in a post on X, referred to another RTI response given by the external affairs ministry in 2015, while Jaishankar was the foreign secretary.

“As per the RTI response in 2015 when current Foreign Minister was serving as the FS it was said ‘This did not involve either acquiring or ceding of territory belonging to India since the area in question had never been demarcated. Under the Agreements, the Island of Katchatheevu lies on the Sri Lankan side of the India-Sri Lanka International Maritime Boundary Line.’

“Today the Foreign Minister and yesterday the PM claimed it has been ‘ceded’. So is the change in stance for their election politics or has Modiji made a case for Sri Lanka?” she asked.

Shunmugasundaram said that without going into “Jaishankar’s u-turn”, the facts have been in the public domain for years that under the agreement, Sri Lanka would retain the rights over the land mass and in exchange the fishermen from Tamil Nadu would retain their traditional fishing rights around the island and to visit to celebrate the St Anthony’s church festival.

“Katchatheevu is uninhabited. It is not that people were asked to leave. The fact is that the customary rights were protected. It is not that Sri Lanka has imposed a ban on coming over for the festival or they have surrounded Katchatheevu with their naval fleet. So I don’t know what is the basis of this rage of the BJP and the PM as the status quo has been maintained for 50 years,” he said.

“The fishermen community has not come up today and said that you have decreased the chances of our livelihood. It is a person who is contesting from Coimbatore from BJP and the PM who has paid little or no regard to this issue over numerous bilateral issues with Sri Lanka who have raised it.”

While the BJP has sought to place fishermen’s rights at the centre of its demand along with national security, a report by the Deccan Herald said that the community has raised questions for “suddenly remembering” Katchatheevu “after being in deep slumber” for about 10 years since the BJP first came to power.

Questioning the timing of the claims made by the BJP, Nirmalkumar also said that while it is accepted that the Congress and the DMK “betrayed Tamil Nadu”, the resurgence of the issue is only with elections on the BJP’s minds.

“This is definitely for elections. The-then DMK government under Karunanidhi who was facing corruption cases and was about to be arrested surrendered the rights of Tamil Nadu so it was a betrayal to Tamil people. But this issue has been settled through an agreement. Everybody knows that it cannot be taken back unless there is a war,” he said.

The DMK however said that the allegations against Karunanidhi are “misleading” because the agreement was signed by the central government and the states do not have the power to do so.

“It is nobody’s case that DMK supported ceding of the territory. Because that can only be done by the Union govt and has to be ratified by parliament. When enclaves in West Bengal and Bangladesh were exchanged in 2015, that was also ratified by parliament. So the argument that Karunanidhi was taken into confidence is very misleading,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Congress has accused Modi of “desperation” ahead of elections and questioned his silence over China’s transgressions in Ladakh.

“Self goal by BJP”

According to R.K. Radhakrishnan, senior associate editor, Frontline, the issue will result as a “self goal for the BJP.”

“It is a self goal by the BJP. There is no fish anywhere near Katchatheevu. The fish is very close to the Sri Lankan border. That is where the fishermen go and that is where they are arrested. Jaishankar knows this very well. He was in Sri Lanka from 1988-90 as First Secretary. He was also an advisor to the Indian peacekeeping force that killed Sri Lankan Tamils in Sri Lanka. I don’t see any note from that time saying there is a fisherman’s issue. He did not do it. These are two different issues that have no relation to one another,” he said.

Radhakrishnan said that while the BJP is attempting to whip up nationalist sentiment ahead of the elections, it will not work in Tamil Nadu.

“The problem with Modi here is that he never delivers. He laid the foundation stone for All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in 2019 but it has been five years and it has not been delivered. Flood relief funds have not been released. In Tamil Nadu how it works is you deliver and that is how you get the votes. That is how it has worked for both the Dravidian parties,” he said.

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