‘Katchatheevu nothing more than a rock for Pandit Nehru, Indira Gandhi’: S Jaishankar

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, in a press conference on Monday, elaborated on the dispute between India and Sri Lanka on the Katchatheevu island. The remarks come after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the Congress party ‘callously’ gave away the island to Sri Lanka, triggering a war of words between BJP and Congress. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge responded to PM Modi’s claims and said that the island was given away to Sri Lanka as part of a friendly agreement. 

Jaishankar said there have been claims and counterclaims between India and Sri Lanka over the Katchatheevu island. He highlighted India’s claim that Katchatheevu island belonged to Raja of Ramnad, who had received it from the East India Company. As it was part of the Raja’s zamindari rights, it eventually moved to the then Madras government. 

Moreover, for many years after the independence, Indian customs regularly went to Katchatheevu, which was never obstructed. India also argued that there was absence of documentary evidence for Sri Lanka to show that they had an original title to Katchatheevu, the minister said. 

However, Sri Lanka claims that they have records going back to the 17th century. Some conferences also looked at their claim in a positive manner, he said. 

Jaishankar asserted that the reality is far from what Sri Lanka claims. “After India and Sri Lanka became independent, there were issues between the militaries of two countries about using Katchatheevu island. And this was what actually and eventually emerged as the Katchatheevu issue between the two countries, he said that many discussions also took place on the resolution of the dispute. 

“But the most important discussion was what happened in 1974, a few months before the Katchatheevu agreement was made. Whether it was Pandit Nehru or Indira Gandhi, Katchatheevu for them was nothing more than a 'rock', 'a small island of no importance',” he claimed, adding that that has been the historic attitude of the Congress towards Katchatheevu.  

Jaishankar claims that these ‘individual views’ seeped into Congress’ thinking. He quoted former Congress leader HKL Bhagat who said it was important for a great country like India to keep her neighbours satisfied. 

“You see how strong, deep and pervasive this thinking was! For them, sitting in Delhi, that 'small island', that 'rock' didn't matter. It was an inconvenience to be given away. For them, it was a headache,” he said. 

Before this, Kharge added that elections are a trigger for BJP to wake up to territorial integrity and national security issues. He also referred to the BJP government’s transfer of 111 enclaves from India to Bangladesh and the receiving of 55 enclaves by India. He said Katchatheevu transfer was a similar matter.