When only a few weeks are left for the Lok Sabha elections.
Katchatheevu, a deserted island near Rameshwaram, has become a political issue. PM Narendra Modi on Sunday accused the Congress of damaging the integrity of the country by handing over the islands to Sri Lanka in 1974 when the Indira Gandhi government.
In response to PM Modi’s allegations, Congress has counter-attacked in 2015 by raising the issue of agreement with Bangladesh and Galwan Valley.
Congress claimed that PM Modi raising this issue just before the elections shows their frustration.
Earlier on Sunday, PM Modi alleged during the rally that Congress’s decision to hand over Katchatheevu island has “weakened” the integrity and interests of the country.
These allegations of PM Modi are based on the report sought by Tamil Nadu BJP Chief Annamalai under the Right to Information (RTI), which has revealed how the then government of Indira Gandhi had handed over the Katchatheevu island to Sri Lanka in 1974.
Describing this revelation in the RTI report as “shocking”, PM Modi said that people are so “angry” with this step of the then government that “Congress can never be trusted”.
On the other hand, Tamil Nadu BJP Chief Annamalai accused Congress and MK Stalin’s party DMK of “collusion” to hand over Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka. Annamalai said, “Whenever the Congress was in power, it showed the least interest in securing the border, territorial integrity and sovereignty of our country.”
Congress counter attack
In response to BJP’s attacks, Congress also raised the issue of Galwan Valley along with the land border agreement with Bangladesh in 2015. Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said, “In your 10th year of misgovernance, you have suddenly woken up to issues of territorial integrity and national security. Perhaps, elections are the reason for this. Your frustration is clear.”
Jairam Ramesh said that in 2015, the Modi government signed a land boundary agreement with Bangladesh, in which 17,161 acres were left in Indian territory, while only 7,110 acres were recovered.
This means that India got 10,051 acres less land area. He said that instead of making childish allegations against PM Modi, Congress had gained support in both the Houses of Parliament.
Jairam Ramesh explained the chronology
Jairam Ramesh posted a long post on social media platform X. Alleged that Prime Minister Modi bringing the issue of Katchatheevu to the fore is an election strategy of BJP.
Explaining the chronology, Jairam Ramesh said that BJP is getting zero seats in Tamil Nadu, hence the PM has become dejected after seeing the crushing defeat.
On the other hand, Annamalai collected such information through RTI to divert the attention of people in Tamil Nadu.
The Congress leader said that many important public issues are ignored in RTI. Whereas they get VVIP treatment and are also given fast responses.
Responding to the Prime Minister’s allegation, Jairam Ramesh said that in 1974, the year Katchatheevu was handed over to Sri Lanka, the Sirisena Bandaranaike-Indira Gandhi agreement had allowed the repatriation of 6,00,000 Tamil people from Sri Lanka to India.
“In a single step, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi secured human rights and dignity for six lakh stateless people,” the Congress leader said.
Modi government cornered on Galvan Valley issue
Jairam Ramesh raised the issue of the conflict at Galwan Valley. Said that Modi government has remained silent regarding India-China clashes in the last few years.
The real threat to the integrity of the country is the large-scale encroachment of the Chinese military on Indian territory in the last few years. Jairam Ramesh accused Prime Minister Modi of “giving a clean chit” to China after the 2020 Galwan clash.