Jaishankar criticises Congress attitude on Katchatheevu Issue
New Delhi, India - External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday criticised the historic attitude of the Congress party towards the Katchatheevu island and said that Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru saw it as a ‘nuisance’.
“This is an observation by the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in May of 1961. He says, he writes, I attach no importance at all to this little island and I would have no hesitation in giving up our claim to it. I do not like matters like this pending. Indefinitely and being raised again and again in parliament. So to Pandit Nehru, this was a little island. It had no importance. He saw it as a nuisance,” Jaishankar said in a press conference.
“Why are people bringing it up again and again in parliament? So for him, the sooner you give it away the better. Now you can say, okay, this
was Pandit Nehru’s view. Now I want to read to you. Actually this was not just Pandit Nehru’s view. This view continued on to Indira Gandhi ji as well,” he added.
Addressing the issue, Jaishankar highlighted the indifference shown by past prime ministers, particularly Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, towards the strategic significance of Katchatheevu.
“We are talking about 1958 and 1960. The main people in the case wanted to make sure that at least we should get the fishing rights. The island was given away in 1974 and the fishing rights were given away in 1976... One, the most basic recurring (aspect) is the indifference shown by the then central government and the PMS about the territory of India... That fact is they simply did not care.”
‘Absurd allegation’
Meanwhile, Rajya Sabha MP, P Chidambaram on Monday refuted the charges by the ruling party, dubbing them an ‘absurd allegation’.
The Congress leader, speaking to ANI, claimed that sufferings of over 6 lakh Tamils who were in Sri Lanka compelled the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi to acknowledge that the island belonged to the neighbouring country.