TN Guv blames Cong, DMK for ceding Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka
Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi oblamed the then Congress government of Indira Gandhi and the DMK government of late M Karunanidhi in the state for ceding the Katchatheevu islet in the Palk Strait to Sri Lanka in 1974.
The Governor charged that the ceding of Katchatheevu is the root cause for the travails of Indian fishermen who are attacked by the Lanan navy on the charge of crossing the International Maritime Boundary Line and fishing in the island nation’s waters.
The DMK government instead of politicising the issue and faulting the Union Government should adopt a constructive approach, he suggested and said: “After all it is the party ruling the state today as an ally of the then Central Government was equally responsible for the wrong in 1974.”
“They (fishermen) are victims of an iniquitous agreement of 1974 which was extremely insensitive to the livelihood concerns of our fishermen. The then governments in Delhi and Chennai committed a grave sin by depriving our fishermen of their traditional fishing rights in the sea around Katchatheevu island,” Ravi wrote in a post on the Raj Bhavan X handle.
“Since then, our fishing community has been suffering enduring hardship. They are arrested and their boats confiscated by Sri Lankan authorities. This enduring problem has to have an enduring solution,” Ravi emphasised.