After Prime Minister Narendra Modi slammed the Congress for allegedly ceding Katchatheevu Island to Sri Lanka, Congress leaders called PM Modi’s remark “selective pieces of propaganda” and questioned the work done under the ten years of the BJP-led central government.
Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit said that the statement made by the Prime Minister is all because of the elections in Tamil Nadu, where all the “surveys show the BJP will be badly smashed.”
“The problem with the Prime Minister is that he makes statements without any references. If any agreement like this was made, we should know what it was. Secondly, what was the Prime Minister doing for 9 years then? If he was in a position of this information, why was he quiet about it all this while? These are selective pieces of propaganda that they fake out. It is all because elections are going on in Tamil Nadu. All the surveys show the BJP will be badly smashed in Tamil Nadu,” he said.
Tamil Nadu Congress President K Selvaperunthagai asked PM Modi to give a white paper report in connection to the work done by the present government over the last 10 years.
“First, you should ask (PM) Modi what is happening on China border. How many square kilometres of area has been captured by China in Arunachal Pradesh, Ladakh? Ask him to give a white paper report. He should tell what his government has done in the last 10 years. They have done nothing,” Selvaperunthagai said.
Criticising Congress for the alleged ceding of Katchatheevu Island to Sri Lanka, BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said that Congress has always believed in the politics of divide and rule and breaking the country.
“Congress has always believed in the politics of divide and rule and breaking this country… The kind of evidence that has come out through RTI is that in 1974, the first family Congress, be it Nehru ji or Indira ji, was enthusiastic about giving the Katchatheevu island on a platter. However, the legal and historical evidence was in our favour. And all this has been documented. This shows that the Congress Party has always thought of breaking India into hundreds of pieces,”, he said.
Coming down heavily on the Congress party for giving away the Katchatheevu island to Sri Lanka during the tenure of the Indira Gandhi government in 1974, PM Modi earlier in the day said that this has infuriated people, adding that the Congress can never be trusted.
The Prime Minister accused the Congress of weakening India’s unity, integrity, and interests during its years of governance.
“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 75 years and counting,” PM Modi posted on X, citing a news report.
It is pertinent to mention that the island, located between Rameswaram (India) and Sri Lanka, was traditionally used by both Sri Lankan and Indian fishermen.
In 1974, then prime minister Indira Gandhi accepted Katchatheevu as Sri Lankan territory under the “Indo-Sri Lankan Maritime agreement”. The 1974 Agreement regarding historic waters between Sri Lanka and India in the Palk Strait and the Palk Bay formally confirmed Sri Lanka’s sovereignty over the Island.
