What The Modi Govt Is Not Telling You About The Katchatheevu

What The Modi Govt Is Not Telling You About The Katchatheevu The 'blame Congress/Nehru' trope doesn't add up when you look at the real story of how India benefitted too. The coastal fishing community in Tamil Nadu may or may not be impressed by the prime minister’s sweeping anti-Nehru, anti-Congress rhetoric. The loss of the island is not as important to them as the real question that fisherfolk here want answered: What have #Modi and His Government done in the last decade to address the “livelihood and humanitarian concerns” arising from what he acknowledged in 2015 was “a complex issue”, and to find a “long-term solution”? -- Reality -- India won independence in August 1947, Sri Lanka in February 1948. For India at the time, the biggest preoccupation in its ties with Sri Lanka was the question of citizenship for Indian-origin Tamils who had been made stateless by the first government of newly independent Ceylon. The issue had embittered relations between the two new nations. After the 1971 liberation of Bangladesh that broke up Pakistan, a confident Indira Gandhi reached out to Sri Lanka – which had provided refuelling facilities to Pakistan during the war and feared a backlash – in reassurance that India wanted friendly relations. Sirima Bandaranaike, then Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister, was close to Beijing. Further, in a world divided by the Cold War, the 1974 and 1976 agreements, while granting #SriLanka the deviation of Katchatheevu, also ensured that no third parties could fish in troubled waters as the Palk Straits were divided between the two countries into their exclusive economic zones. These agreements were the Agreement between Sri Lanka and India on the Boundary in Historic Waters between the two Countries and Related Matters of 1974 and the Agreement between India and Sri Lanka on the Maritime Boundary Between The Two Countries In The Gulf Of Mannar And The Bay of Bengal And Related Matters of 1976. In the same month as the 1974 agreement on #Katchatheevu, Gandhi and Bandaranike signed the Indira-Sirima pact, which completed a process begun under the prime ministership of #LalBahadurShastri towards resolving the issue of stateless Indian Origin Tamils. 'Ceding' Territory Neither #Modi nor #Jaishankar are ignorant of the fact that #Katchatheevu was not “ceded” as it was never officially demarcated as part of India. It was disputed territory. Their own legal officers have said as much in court and in an RTI reply. It was given up, and having Wadge Bank on the Indian map shows it was not for nothing. Clearly, thinking of a constructive solution to the fishing crisis is far more difficult than deploying the lazy ‘blame Nehru/Indira/Congress’ trope. Of course, if territory is all important, it’s still a puzzle as to why the #BJP ceded territory transgressed by the #Chinese PLA in 2020 at the Line of Actual Control through agreements for so-called “buffer zones”. Lots of people in Ladakh have complaints about Chinese soldiers stopping them from taking their sheep into pasture lands that they used even two years ago. #kachatheevuisland #PropagandaKePapa #Election2024 #Dictatorship #NoVoteToBJp