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August 2023. Prime Minister Modi said in Parliament that Indira Gandhi’s government gave ‘a part of Bharat Mata’ to Sri Lanka in 1974. They were referring to an island Kachthithivu near Rameswaram. 7 months later, Modi reiterated the issue of Kachthithivu in social media posts.
It was not sudden that Modi surrounded the Congress on the Kachthithivu case. In 2014, just 3 months after the formation of the government for the first time, the Attorney General said in the Supreme Court that ‘Jung will have to fight’ to withdraw Kutthithivu.
PM Modi has arrived on a tour of Sri Lanka yesterday i.e. on Friday night. Earlier on Wednesday (March 2), a resolution was unanimously passed in the Tamil Nadu Assembly that the Central Government should withdraw the island of Kachthivu from Sri Lanka. The proposal has also been supported by the BJP.
In such a situation, speculations are being made that PM Modi will discuss the issue of Kuthathivu on Sri Lanka tour. The question is also whether India can really return to India. Know what is the whole controversy about this island in this story…
What is the location of Kachchathivu Island?
There is a large sea area between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka in India. This sea region is called Pak Strait. There are many islands here, out of which the name of an island is Kachchathivu.
According to the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry website, Kachchathivu is an island spread over 285 acres. The island connects the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea.
The island was formed after a volcanic explosion in the 14th century. Which is about 19 km from Rameswaram and about 16 kilometers from Jaffna district of Sri Lanka. Robert Pak used to be the British Governor of Madras province from 1755 to 1763. This sea area was named Pak Strait named after Robert Pak.
Indira Gandhi handed over Kachchathivu to Sri Lanka through 4 agreements
Between 1974 and 1976, the then Indian PM Indira Gandhi and Sri Lanka’s PM Sirimav Bhandarnayake signed four sea water agreements. Under this, India handed over the island to Sri Lanka. Since then Sri Lanka has legally claimed its claim on this island.
The Tamil Nadu government opposed it when the Government of India had compromised with Sri Lanka regarding this island. Then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi wrote a letter to PM Indira Gandhi saying that the island is historically part of the zamindari of the Ramnad Empire.
In such a situation, the Government of India should not give this area to Sri Lanka at any cost. However, under this agreement, Indian fishermen were allowed to kill fish and dry nets here. For this reason, Indian fishermen used to go there, but after 2009 Sri Lanka Navy started arresting Indian fishermen going there.
Tamil Nadu claims on Kachchathivu 15 years after the agreement
In 1991, in 1991, the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly demanded to join Kachchathivu once again in India. For this, the state government had passed a resolution. During the Sri Lankan civil war, its northern borders were occupied by the Tamil militant organization LTTE.
Because of this, Tamil Nadu fishermen used to reach this island easily to catch fish. In 2008, Jayalalithaa moved the Supreme Court to cancel the Kachchathivu Island agreements between 1974 and 1976.
The fight between the Sri Lankan government and LTTE in 2009 was about to end. The LTTE organization was getting weaker. In such a situation, the Sri Lankan government strengthened the security system on its borders. Whenever the fishermen of Tamil Nadu used to go close to the island to kill fish, Sri Lankan police used to arrest him.
For this reason, people living in the coastal area started demanding to withdraw this island once again.
The Sri Lankan government says that there is a shortage of fish and other aquatic organisms in its water area in the sea, affecting the livelihood of their fishermen. In such a situation, they cannot allow fishermen of India to kill fish in this area.
Thousands of Indians go to pray in the church on the kutrathivu even now
St. Anthony Church built on the island of Kachthivu
Every year in February, thousands of people from Rameswaram go to the St. Anthony Church on the island of Kachchathivu. The church was built 110 years ago by a Tamil Catholic Srinivas Padaiyachi of Tamil Nadu.
In 2016, media reports claimed that the Sri Lanka government is now preparing to demolish the church, but later Foreign Ministry spokesman Vikas Swaroop made it clear that nothing like this would happen.