All posts tagged: Katchatheevu

No Need to Worry about China’s Old Tactics in Arunachal; Congress And DMK Must Explain on Katchatheevu: Harsh Shringla to News18

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Former foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla. File pic/PTI The former foreign secretary said that the public has a right to know the truth behind the handing over of the island by the Indira Gandhi government to Sri Lanka India’s approach in recent years of firmly dealing with issues related to foreign policy coupled with a “nation first” attitude has served the country’s interests well, said former foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla in an exclusive conversation with CNN-News18 when asked about China’s renewed antics of renaming places in Arunachal Pradesh. “The PLA has always resorted to tactics that give them an advantage on boundary,” said Shringla, who was also the chief coordinator for India’s G20 Presidency in 2023. “We don’t need to be worried…We have always displayed a firm attitude towards Chinese attempts…In 2020 the attempts were met very firmly…and the same was with Doklam.” According to reports, China has renamed 11 residential areas, 12 mountains, four rivers, one lake, one mountain pass, and one piece of land of Arunachal Pradesh as Beijing steps up assertions …

Katchatheevu controversy: Sound and fury signifying nothing

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Katchatheevu is a 285-acre uninhabited Indian Ocean territory. The island is known for Antony’s Church which Lankan and Indian pilgrims visit annually. It was built in 1905 by Ramnad merchant Seenikuppan Padayachi, intended as a halfway ground for Indo-Lankan fishers for drying nets or asylums during tempests. The island was ceded by the Indira Gandhi government to the Sirimavo Bandaranaike Lankan administration in 1974. The notion of Katchatheevu’s so-called “callous” handover is full of sound and fury signifying nothing, except the egregious inattention to the historical and geostrategic contexts surrounding it. Katchatheevu is an unofficial battlefield between Indian Tamil fishers and a Sinhala-dominated Lankan navy. This is owing to complex factors like excessive trawling in the Sethusamudram region, contested legacies of the Lankan civil war, and the bilateral irresolution of the Tamil question. At least three important factors are ignored when public imagination scapegoats the transactors of the Indo-Lankan agreements of 1974 and ’76 that were meant to secure the division of the maritime boundaries in the Palk Bay and Gulf of Mannar. First, the …

Priyanka Chaturvedi MP questions MEA’s stand on Katchatheevu Island | Latest News India

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Shiv Sena (UBT) member of Parliament (MP) Priyanka Chaturvedi on Monday alleged discrepancies in the stand of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Katchatheevu Island in Sri Lanka citing its two responses under the Right To Information (RTI) in 2015 and 2024, respectively. Her statement comes in the wake of a controversy over Katchatheevu with Prime Minister Narendra Modi accusing the Indira Gandhi government of “callously” ceding the territory to Colombo and external affairs minister S Jaishankar lashing out at former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru for referring to the island as “insignificant”. Shiv Sena (UBT) member of Parliament (MP) Priyanka Chaturvedi. (File) Citing the 2015 and 2024 RTI replies by the MEA, Chaturvedi, in a social media post, said, “As per the RTI response in 2015 when current Foreign Minister (Jaishankar) was serving as the FS (foreign secretary), it was said, ‘This did not involve either acquiring or ceding of territory belonging to India since the area in question had never been demarcated. Under the Agreements, the Island of Katchatheevu lies on the Sri …

‘Jawaharlal Nehru saw Katchatheevu Island as a nuisance’: S Jaishankar as Centre ups the ante | Latest News India

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The political row over the Katchatheevu issue intensified on Monday as external affairs minister S Jaishankar held a press conference and claimed that the decades-old territorial and fishing rights dispute around the island did not surface suddenly and that it has often been debated in Parliament. He also claimed that prime ministers from the Congress displayed indifference about Katchatheevu Island and gave away Indian fishermen’s rights despite legal views to the contrary. External affairs minister S Jaishankar addresses a press conference at the BJP Headquarters in New Delhi on April 1. (PTI) S Jaishankar’s statement comes shortly after Prime Minister Narendra Modi targeted the DMK over the Katchatheevu Island issue, alleging the ruling party of Tamil Nadu did nothing to safeguard the state’s interests. Hindustan Times – your fastest source for breaking news! Read now. At the press conference, Jaishankar said prime ministers such as Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi dubbed Katchatheevu, given to Sri Lanka in 1974 as part of a maritime boundary agreement, as a “little island” and “little rock”, asserting that the …

S Jaishankar As Katchatheevu Row Heats Up

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Doubling down on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s charge at Opposition over the Katchatheevu island row, External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar today said Jawaharlal Nehru, the country’s first Prime Minister, wanted to give away the island to Sri Lanka. In 1974, the then Indira Gandhi government had accepted the island, about 1.6 km long and over 300 m wide, a Sri Lankan area under Indo-Sri Lankan maritime agreement. The issue has resurfaced after a media report based on a RTI reply received by Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai on the 1974 pact. In 1976, after the Tamil Nadu government was dismissed during the Emergency, another pact restricted fishermen of both countries from fishing in each other’s waters. The harassment of Tamil Nadu fishermen by Lankan authorities is a key issue in the state, and the BJP has raised this with an eye on the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Addressing the media, Dr Jaishankar today quoted former External Affairs Minister Swaran Singh’s 1974 address in Parliament. “I feel confident that the agreement demarcating the maritime …

T.N. BJP is determined to retrieve Katchatheevu, says Annamalai

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Annamalai said that the only way to have a permanent solution for the problems faced by Tamil Nadu fishermen was to retrieve Katchatheevu. File | Photo Credit: M. Srinath The Tamil Nadu unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is determined to retrieve Katchatheevu from Sri Lanka, K. Annamalai, State president of the party, said near Palladam in Tiruppur district on Sunday. Mr. Annamalai, who is campaigning for the Lok Sabha election, told journalists that the only way to have a permanent solution for the problems faced by Tamil Nadu fishermen was to retrieve Katchatheevu. Also Read | What about incursions by China, Congress asks PM after his attack on Katchatheevu issue The Tamil Nadu BJP had submitted this demand to External Affairs Affairs S. Jaishankar about an year ago. It has now brought out in public forum classified documents relating to how India ceded Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka. The boundary of India shrunk because of Congress, he alleged. There was no problem related to Katchatheevu till 1948 as the King of Ramanathapuram had the rights …

Tiny Lanka Island Takes Centre Stage In Tamil Nadu Politics Ahead Of Polls

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New Delhi: A tiny island between India and Sri Lanka on Palk Straight has become the hot button issue ahead of the general election in Tamil Nadu, where the BJP is trying to find a toehold. The island of Katchatheevu, a disputed area, was given to Sri Lanka by the Congress government headed by late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi through an agreement in 1974. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has now posted a message on social media saying the Congress has “callously” given it away. “Eye-opening and startling! New facts reveal how Congress callously gave away Katchatheevu. This has angered every Indian and reaffirmed in people’s minds – we can’t ever trust Congress,” PM Modi posted on X, formerly Twitter. “Weakening India’s unity, integrity and interests has been Congress’ way of working for 75 years and counting,” he added, posting a report by Times of India that is based on based on an RTI reply Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai. He later raised the matter at a rally in Meerut meant to flag off the …

Congress callously gave away Katchatheevu island, can`t ever trust it: PM Modi

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday cited a media report to assert that new facts reveal that the Congress “callously” gave away Katchatheevu island to Sri Lanka. “Eye opening and startling! New facts reveal how Congress callously gave away Katchatheevu. This has angered every Indian and reaffirmed in people`s minds- we can`t ever trust Congress,” he said on X, sharing the report. Modi added, “Weakening India`s unity, integrity and interests has been Congress` way of working for 75 years and counting.” External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar also took a swipe at the Congress, saying these facts should concern every citizen. He said on X, “It is important that people know the full truth about our past.” The facts brought out by the article should concern every citizen, he added. BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi claimed that the decision of the then Congress government at the Centre has led to the capture and imprisonment of Tamil Nadu fishermen by Lankans as they at times wander to the island, which is only 25 km off their state`s coast, …

All you need to know about Katchatheevu island, ‘ceded’ by Congress to Sri Lanka | Latest News India

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Katchatheevu, an uninhabited island administered by Sri Lanka, became the subject of a political war of words in India on Sunday morning. Ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, prime minister Narendra Modi, who is seeking a third consecutive term, criticised the erstwhile Congress government under then PM Indira Gandhi, of ‘giving away’ the island to Sri Lanka, in 1974. Katchatheevu island, Sri Lanka (Image: Ministry of Foreign Affairs Sri Lanka) Here is all you need to know about Katchatheevu island and the controversy that surrounds it: Hindustan Times – your fastest source for breaking news! Read now. (1.) According to an RTI dated January 5, 2015, Katchatheevu island lies on the Sri Lankan side of side of the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) between the two countries.  (2.) In 1974, India ‘recognised’ Sri Lanka’s ownership of the 285-acre (1.15-sq km) of the island under the ‘Agreement on the boundary in Historic Waters between the two countries and Related Matters.’ The agreement was signed in Colombo on June 26, 1974, and in New Delhi on …

Congress callously gave away Katchatheevu island: PM Modi

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi said new facts reveal how Congress callously gave away Katchatheevu. File | Photo Credit: PTI Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 31 cited a media report to assert that new facts reveal that the Congress “callously” gave away Katchatheevu island to Sri Lanka. “Eye-opening and startling! New facts reveal how Congress callously gave away Katchatheevu. This has angered every Indian and reaffirmed in people’s minds – we can’t ever trust Congress,” he said on X, sharing the report. Mr. Modi added, “Weakening India’s unity, integrity and interests has been Congress’ way of working for 75 years and counting.” Eye opening and startling! New facts reveal how Congress callously gave away #Katchatheevu. This has angered every Indian and reaffirmed in people’s minds- we can’t ever trust Congress! Weakening India’s unity, integrity and interests has been Congress’ way of working for… — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 31, 2024 BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi claimed that the decision of the then Congress government at the Centre has led to the capture and imprisonment of Tamil …