Nation Wants To Know/ DMK Was Party to Decision on Katchatheevu, S Jaishankar Tells Republic | Exclusive

New Delhi: Asserting that a “very clever political narrative has been constructed over many, many years suggesting that the DMK is fighting for the people who've had grievances”, Union Minister for External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar during an exclusive conversation with Republic TV's Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami on Monday underlined that it looks “as though the Centre is the culpable party”, but what the "record actually shows is that the DMK was very much party to the decision(s)" made on the Katchatheevu island. 

The minister's remarks come in the backdrop of a recent media report suggesting that Indira Gandhi's government gave away Katchatheevu island to Sri Lanka.

“Having done that, now you [the DMK leaders] are posing before the country that you had nothing to do with it”, the EAM quipped in rather stinging remarks during the explosive ‘Nation Wants To Know’ interview.

Responding to a question on the Katchatheevu matter being raised during elections, Jaishankar said the DMK has no business posing as the champion of fishermen’s interest. 

“We have had – for the last many decades – challenges and problems faced by Indian fishermen... Now, you had the DMK posing as the champions of Tamil fishermen, saying they are in difficulties today because the central government took decisions which put them at a disadvantage”, Jaishankar told Arnab during the biggest and his most politically-loaded pre-election interview yet.

According to the report, which is based on an RTI reply obtained by Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai, the then Indira Gandhi government at the Centre in 1974 had handed over the 1.9 square km island located at Palk Strait, 20 km from Indian shore, to Sri Lanka.

The minister underlined that the important issue to focus on right now [when India is going to polls] is [to ascertain]: “Which party was honest and which isn't, which party is responsible for the situation that the Indian fishermen are now finding themselves in”.

The Centre and the Opposition have been engaged in a war of words over the matter with the BJP leaders seeking an explanation from the DMK and the Congress about "ceding" Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka and "coming clean" on the issue, and the Opposition leaders, on the other hand, alleging that raising a "sensitive" issue like this ahead of elections shows the BJP's "desperation".

Questioning why PM Modi “did not take steps to get Katchatheevu back during his 10-year rule”, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge claimed that the island was given to Sri Lanka as part of a “friendly agreement in 1974”, even as he added, “Modi government too had undertaken a similar friendly gesture towards Bangladesh in exchange for border enclaves”.

Furthermore, the EAM strongly rebuked the opposition parties, including the DMK for saying one thing and doing another. “The real issue is: since Day 1 they [DMK leaders] had mastered this practice of saying something in Parliament...this type of politics cannot be encouraged", he said.

Stressing that it's “important for people to know” that the DMK hasn't been completely honest on the Katchatheevu matter, Jaishankar told Republic, “Considering how much of an issue they made out of it, Chief Minister Stalin has himself written to me 21 times, raising the issues of Tamil Nadu fishermen… I think it was time that the public learnt: Who's responsible for it? who was culpable? Who did it and who went along with that?"

The minister further drew attention to the BJP-led government's stance on the issue, and underlined the measures taken by Modi government on the matter. “PM Modi has himself repeatedly taken up the fishermen's issue with successive presidents and prime ministers of Sri Lanka over the years”, the EAM highlighted.

Nirmala Sitharaman and Anurag Thakur are among several other union ministers who've accused the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu of spreading a false campaign on Katchatheevu, and for making "irresponsible" statements on the issue.

Last month, Sitharaman had said the then DMK president and TN Chief Minister M Karunanidhi was aware of the ruling Congress's move but “did not object”.