Kochi:Sri Lanka has slighted Tamil super star Vijay’s demand to seize Kachathheevu from Sri Lanka putting the Congress in soup as it was during Congress’ rule India lost it to Sri Lanka, media reports said.
The Tamizhaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) chief Vijay’s demand will not only spike his party’s popularity, but it will also arm the BJP to target Congress and DMK, the reports said.
Addressing a state meeting at Madurai the other day, Vijay accused Sri Lanka of harassing Tamil fishermen due to the Island nation’s control over Kachatheevu.
Responding to Vijay’s demands,
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath dismissed it as mere ‘election-time rhetoric’.
While the issue is likely to open a tsunami of problems for the Congress in coming days, it will equally hit Congress ally DMK during the Assembly elections.
Late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa had in 2011 challenged the agreements signed between India and Sri Lanka in 1974 and 1976 leading to India losing control over Katchatheevu.
The Congress-led union government in 2013 Informed the Supreme Court that no territory belonging to Indian sovereignty was ceded to Sri Lanka.
The same later in 2013, the then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi moved the Supreme Court seeking the retrieval of the island.
The matter is before the Supreme Court which will conduct final hearing of the case on September 15, 2025.
The Supreme Court has allowed DMK leader T R Baalu to represent late Karunanidhi who is also a party in the case.
Katchatheevu is a strip of land of about 1.9 sq km located in the Palk Strait which divides India and Sri Lanka. It lies to the northeast to Rameswaram in India and to the southwest of Sri Lanka.
The island has no source of drinking water and the only structure on it is a church which holds an annual festival attended by faithfuls from both countries.
The dispute over the island, which persisted since 1921 over fishing rights, ended in 1974 when India relinquished any claim over it.
Two years later in 1976, the two countries signed an agreement preventing people from both countries from fishing in waters belonging to each other, BBC said.
Photo: Tamil Heritage
