Indian politicians’ assertions of reclaiming the Katchatheevu island are baseless, as stated by Sri Lanka’s Minister of Fisheries, Douglas Devananda.
Devananda’s comments come amidst a political dispute in India preceding the upcoming general elections. The ruling BJP, vying for a third consecutive term, has accused its rival, the Congress, of relinquishing Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka.
In response to the controversy, Devananda, the Sri Lankan minister, attributed the uproar to India’s Lok Sabha polls, scheduled to commence on April 19. “It is election time there. So, it is not unusual to hear such noises of claims and counter-claims about Katchatheevu. The statements on ‘reclaiming’ Katchatheevu from Sri Lanka have no ground,” he remarked.
Devananda suggested that New Delhi seeks to the island to restrict Sri Lankan fishermen’s access to the area and ensure that Colombo does not assert any rights in that resourceful region.
He also referenced the “West Bank,” a substantially larger area than Katchatheevu, located below Kanyakumari. “There claims to be a place called West Bank, which is located below Kanyakumari. It is a much bigger area with extensive sea resources. It is 80 times bigger than Katchatheevu…India secured it at the 1976 review agreement,” he explained.
Kanyakumari, situated in Tamil Nadu, a southern Indian state governed by Congress ally DMK, has drawn accusations from the BJP of negligence towards Katchatheevu. Conversely, both parties have accused the Narendra Modi government of “misleading” the public and questioned its silence on the matter despite being in power for a decade.
Regarding the 1974 pact signed by the Congress-led government under Indira Gandhi with Sri Lanka, which permitted Indian fishermen to access Katchatheevu without travel documents, India’s External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar, recently noted at a press conference that an additional agreement in 1976 revoked this right.