Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Thursday, mentioned the island of Katchatheevu, located between Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu in India, in his speech in the Parliament during the no-confidence debate. He asked why the Congress government led by Indira Gandhi gave away the Katchatheevu island to Sri Lanka in 1974.
The PM’s comments come right before Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremsinghe’s visit to New Delhi. Earlier, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin had written to PM Modi asking him to retrieve the island, which has been caught in a political controversy, from Sri Lanka. The Tamil Nadu assembly adopted a resolution demanding the retrieval of the island of Katchatheevu in 1991.
Given that the DMK and Congress are political allies, the no-confidence motion by the Opposition made Modi remark, “Katchatheevu is an island between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka. Somebody gave it to another country. It happened under the leadership of Indira Gandhi. Wasn’t that part of Maa Bharati there?”
Katchatheevu is reported to be a 285-acre uninhabited speck in the Palk Strait, between India and Sri Lanka. It is around 1.6 km in length and lies 33 km off the Indian coast. The only building on this island is St Anthony’s Catholic church which hosts an annual festival which both Sri Lankans and Indians attend.
When PM Indira Gandhi and her Sri Lankan counterpart, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, signed ‘The Boundary in Historic Waters between the two countries and related matters’ agreement, the island became part of Sri Lankan territory.
While Article 4 of this agreement said each country shall have “sovereignty and exclusive jurisdiction and control over the waters, the islands, the continental shelf and subsoil thereof, falling on its own aforesaid boundary”. Article 5 of the agreement allowed fishermen and pilgrims from India to go to the island without any travel documents as and when required.
Indira Gandhi thought the island was not of strategic importance, and called it ‘sheer rock with no strategic significance’. She hoped that this agreement would settle the maritime issue between India and Sri Lanka permanently.
In 1976, during Emergency, there was another agreement that was signed which prevented both India or Sri Lanka from fishing in the other’s Exclusive Economic Zone. Since Katchatheevu was at the border of the Exclusive Economic Zone of both countries, the fishing rights became a matter of dispute.
When the Sri Lanka Civil War broke out in 1983, this issue was forgotten but once the war ended in 2009, Sri Lankan maritime agencies became more fortified and vigilant. Sri Lanka started to arrest Indian fishermen for trespassing into their waters and their boats and trawlers seized. Nearly 500 Indian fishermen were arrested between 2020 and 2022 by Sri Lanka.