EAM defends raking up Katchatheevu: 'DMK has been cheating, Tamil Nadu CM wrote to me 21 times'

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday said it was important to bring out the facts on Katchatheevu as the DMK was claiming that it was not part of the agreement under which New Delhi handed over the island to Sri Lanka in 1974. He also responded to arguments made by some former diplomats that raking up an old issue may upset India's relationship with Colombo.  

"It cannot be anybody's case, however, experienced you maybe as a diplomat that when a political party takes one position inside the room and a radically different position in public forums, including Parliament, that this kind of doublespeak should remain concealed from the Indian public," Jaishankar said while speaking to India Today's News Director Rahul Kanwal.  

"When we have an election, the public is entitled to know the truth about the party for whom they may be voting or not voting. So let's not use diplomacy as a cover to cover up political falsehood and hypocrisy. You know, when a party in Tamil Nadu says we have nothing to do with the set of agreements, that it is the Centre which is doing it and disregarding it. And by the way, this is not history. This is being said even in the last few years," the foreign minister said.

Recently, some documents surfaced that showed the DMK was aware of the 1974 agreement prepared by the Centre for Katchatheevu. The Katchatheevu island is about 25 km from the coast of Tamil Nadu.   

Jaishankar said the chief minister of Tamil Nadu had written to him 21 times on the Katchatheevu matter. "So what am I supposed to do? Let him get away with his falsehoods? Please do not use diplomacy as a cover to actually obscure the record of the parties today, because we have had a long history of double speak in this country," he said. 

The minister said it's time for the people of Tamil Nadu to know the truth. "If today there is a problem, how we deal with the problem is a different issue...because you know the matter is also sub judice. But don't say - Don't talk about it because it's embarrassing somewhere else. It's not embarrassing out there. Let's be honest. It's embarrassing to the DMK, it is embarrassing to Congress party."

When asked how he intends to go about the island going forward, the foreign minister said he knows what to do later. "Right now, we are going into elections. The public audits a political party. It looks at how the party delivered and where the party cheated. I think this audit this time will bring out that. For years and decades, the DMK has actually been cheating on the issue of Katchatheevu and on the issue of our fishermen's rights. So what we do later? You don't worry about it. I know what to do later. Right now, let's get the truth out. Don't be party to obscuring the truth and the name of diplomacy." 

Earlier this month, Jaishankar referred to documents that became public via the RTI and said the DMK was very much a party to the then central government's negotiations with Sri Lanka on Katchatheevu. He said the documents showed that from 1973 onwards, the then central government and Foreign ministry held continuous and detailed consultation with the then Chief Minister M Karunanidhi personally on this matter.

"And in fact, the position of the DMK was, “Okay, we agree with all of these, but you know, in public, we will not support it. So, in public, we will say something else, but actually we are with you,” the EAM said, adding that the island issue has been frequently raised in Parliament and has been a matter of frequent correspondence between the Centre and the state government. "I can remember replying to more than 20 letters on this issue (to the current chief minister of Tamil Nadu M K Stalin)."