PM ‘poll ploy’ over Sri Lankan island sparks criticism
Nullifying 1974 agreement will lead to row with neighbour and dent reputation, analysts warn
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s denunciation of the opposition Congress Party for “callously giving away” a small island to Sri Lanka has prompted criticism that he was turning a 50-year-old agreement between the two countries into a general election issue weeks before voting begins.
The row over the island of Katchatheevu, which is under Sri Lanka’s administration, could also potentially harm bilateral relations, Modi’s political opponents and analysts said.
Katchatheevu is located between a district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and another island in northern Sri Lanka.
“Eye-opening and startling! New facts reveal how Congress callously gave away Katchatheevu …. weakening India’s unity, integrity, and interests has been Congress’ way of working for 75 years and counting,” Modi tweeted on Sunday.
On Monday, India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar backed Modi’s assertion at a news conference, alleging that the Congress government under then PM Indira Gandhi “ceded” Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka under a 1974 agreement and withheld the information from the public.
Since coming to power in 2014, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has faced numerous criticisms for exploiting religious and border issues during election periods to win the support of Hindu voters.
The latest controversy arose after Tamil Nadu state BJP president and key party member K. Annamalai applied to receive information about the legal status of Katchatheevu through the Ministry of External Affairs’ historical records.
Based on the information, Annamalai claimed that Congress and its ally Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, a political party in Tamil Nadu, collaborated to “give away” Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka based on the agreement on maritime boundaries in the Palk Strait, where the island is located. He had made similar claims over the years.
Several Indian politicians and analysts have warned against invalidating the agreement. Apart from a potential spat with Sri Lanka, other countries could also cast doubts about India’s commitment to honour any other bilateral agreement it had signed, they said.
In particular, they questioned S. Jaishankar’s remarks on the “ceding” of Katchatheevu as past Indian parliamentary sessions and legal submissions did not mention any such outcome under the 1974 agreement.
Senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram warned in a statement the “untruthful and belligerent” comments by BJP leaders on Katchatheevu could lead to a confrontation between the Sri Lankan government and the 3.5 million Tamils living in the region, and strain relations between Delhi and Colombo.
Chidambaram slammed the BJP and Jaishankar for their double standards regarding India’s territorial dispute with China over the Ladakh area. He said China had renamed villages and landmarks in Ladakh but the BJP government had not been assertive in pressing India’s claims to the territory.
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry said Colombo did not see a need to reopen talks with India over Katchatheevu.
“This is a problem discussed and resolved 50 years ago and there is no necessity to have further discussions on this. I don’t think it will come up,” he said.
He can use the Filipinos’ overwhelming support for our claims in the West Philippine Sea and their overwhelming anger towards China
ANALYST RONALD LLAMAS ON HOW PHILIPPINE PRESIDENT FERDINAND MARCOS JNR CAN BOOST HIS APPROVAL RATING BY HARNESSING THE GOODWILL BROUGHT ON BY A FOREIGN POLICY PIVOT TO THE U.S.
This is a problem … resolved 50 years ago and there is no necessity to have further discussions
ALI SABRY, SRI LANKAN FOREIGN MINISTER
Ashok K. Kantha, a former Indian ambassador to China, said that Sri Lanka was aware that India was in the midst of election season and there was no suggestion that India was changing its position on the agreement.
“I don’t think they will be too concerned about even earlier statements where there was a resolution [in India] calling for the retrieval of Katchatheevu. It didn’t create any serious ripples in Sri Lanka,” Kantha said.
Ajay Gudavarthy, an associate professor at Jawahar Nehru University, said the BJP typically used strategies to “generate hysteria, often through bizarre claims” before elections.
For instance, during an election in Karnataka in May last year, Modi had accused the Congress party of pushing for the southwestern state to secede from India, Gudavarthy said. “Nothing can be more bizarre than a statement of that kind,” he added.
The BJP was hoping Katchatheevu could serve as a rallying point for the party to form new alliances, he said, adding the issue was unlikely to have a big impact in Tamil Nadu. “The BJP has struggled to find an issue to mobilise around, particularly with the changing political dynamics in Tamil Nadu,” Gudavarthy said.