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Annamalai Exposes DMK & Congress Nexus On Kachchatheevu Issue

The Commune

In the ongoing 2024 Lok Sabha elections campaign in Tamil Nadu, the small island of Kachchatheevu has become a focal point of discussion. Recent disclosures stemming from a Right to Information (RTI) request, brought to light by Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai, have sparked significant controversy. These revelations shed light on how the Congress government under Indira Gandhi acquiesced to Sri Lanka’s territorial claims, triggering a heated debate and unveiling a host of issues.

Once again on 1 April 2024, Annamalai released part 2 of the expose of the cede of Kachchatheevu island to Sri Lanka with the official documents and parliamentary records of ‘minutes of the meeting‘. Subsequently, Annamalai conducted a press briefing to elucidate the events surrounding the matter.

Annamalai releasing the copy of minutes of the meeting through his official X account stated, “Excerpt of the Betrayal of Kalaignar Karunanidhi in the ceding of the Kachchatheevu island to Sri Lanka. This is just one of the many double standards of DMK. Some were exposed immediately, but this one took 50 years.”

Minutes of the meeting read, “Foreign secretary, Kewal Singh, accompanied by Director Historical Division BK Basu called on the chief minister of Tamilnadu M Karunanidhi at the secretariat conference room Fort Saint George, Madras on 19 June 1974 at 11:00 a.m. At the meeting which lasted for more than an hour, the chief Minister was assisted by the Tamil Nadu chief secretary P Sabanayagam, and later also by the Home Secretary SP Ambrose.

After the exchange of courtesies, Foreign Secretary explained the purpose of his visit. Recalling the talks he had in New Delhi with the chief minister on 13 October 1973 and with their chief secretary and other officials of Tamil Nadu Government in Madras on 14 October 1973 before the Indo-Sri Lanka official level talks in Colombo 15 to 16 October 1973, Foreign Secretary said that the purpose was to keep the Tamil Nadu government fully informed of the development in the talks with this Sri Lanka and get the benefit of the views and suggestions of Tamil Nadu authorities. 

Foreign Secretary then gave a resume of the talks held in Colombo in October 1973 which consisted mainly of a free, frank, and full exchange of the views by both sides on the issue of sovereignty over Kachchativu. At these talks, the Indian side presented as strong a case as possible on the basis of evidence collected at various record offices in London, The Hague, Goa, and Tamil Nadu (Madras and Ramanathapuram). The Indian case rested mainly on the claim of Raja of Ramnad that the island of Kachchativu belonged to him from time immemorial and formed part of the Zamindari as granted to him by the East India Company in 1803. It is especially in that capacity that he exercised the rights not only over Kachchativu but also in relation to fishery and other resources in the area adjoining the island. The Raja exercised these rights continuously and uninterruptedly from 1805 to 1948 as is evidenced in the various leases executed for the fishing”. 

“At this stage the Chief secretary wanted to know whether a line could not be agreed upon which passed through Kachchativu. Foreign Secretary mentioned that various suggestions had been mooted by the Indian side: i) Condominium, ii) a line cutting through the island, and , iii)a line skirting the island, none of which was acceptable to Sri Lanka. At one stage, the Chief Secretary also suggested that the strong feelings prevalent in Tamil Nadu could help strengthen the Central Government’s bargaining posture. Foreign Secretary said that this had not been lost sight of but it apparently had no effect on Sri Lanka side. In this connection the Chief Minister wanted to know whether any mass hysteria has been built up in Sri Lanka over Kachchativu. Foreign Secretary said that the controlled press in Sri Lanka, unlike that of India, could whip up public feeling on the subject and make a solution difficult to attain.”

“On the substance of the proposal, the Chief Minister indicated that he was inclined to accept the suggested solution. His difficulty was, however, that he could not take the opposition into confidence without sharing with them the knowledge about the oil strike and convince them about the need to accept the compromise. He wanted to know whether the Prime Minister has sounded the opposition. Foreign Secretary said that to his knowledge, the proposal was only known to one or two senior Cabinet Ministers and that probably Prime Minister would like to have the views of the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu before discussing it over the opposition leaders,” the statement further read.

Subsequently, during a press briefing discussing the revelation regarding the conflicting stances of Congress and DMK on the Kachchatheevu issue, Annamalai asserted that, “This morning our External Affairs minister Jaishankar explained in detail about the Kachchatheevu issue in Delhi. In continuation, BJP has a few questions to put forward to the DMK government. The DMK and its leaders lied that the island was ceded to Sri Lanka without the knowledge of the DMK and enacted a drama of protest in the parliament. Particularly, former DMK MP Sezhiyan said in the parliament that the centre did not discuss the Kachchatheevu ceding with Karunanidhi. The DMK MPs made a ruckus in the parliament against the Congress and did not allow the then Home Minister Swaran Singh to speak. Today, if you look at the documents accessed through RTI on the issue, it is seen that the former External Affairs Ministry secretary Kewal Singh, accompanied by Director of Historical Division BK Basu met Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi on 19 June 1974, the meeting was held for an hour and the minutes of the meeting of the same were documented and kept as a classified file. Today it is clear that the External Affairs Ministry Secretary met Karunanidhi a month before the ceding of the Kachchatheevu and got his consent. Most importantly we got to know that Karunanidhi in 1974 asked the central government to postpone the ceding for two years. It is clear that Karunanidhi’s full consent was accorded before giving away the island to Sri Lanka. During that meeting, they discussed demarcating the island by dividing it into equal parts as well, not only did Karunanidhi accepted the centre’s decision to cede the island, he assured to play down the issue with small protest and take care of the political repercussions.”

Annamalai accused the Congress and DMK conspired jointly to surrender the Kachchatheevu island to Sri Lanka, with full backing from the DMK. Presently, the DMK is vigorously lobbying the External Affairs Minister with 21 letters seeking the return of Kachchatheevu island. Annamalai emphasized that if the former Chief Minister Karunanidhi had opposed the surrender, the central government would not have had grounds to proceed with it.

Earlier, on 31 March 2024, Tamil Nadu BJP chief Annamalai, unveiled the Part 1 of the revelation via his official X account stated  “This is the first part of the chronology of the betrayal of Congress & DMK. Both these parties chose to align with Sri Lankan interests, handed over Katchatheevu on a silver platter & put to risk the lives & livelihood of our Tamil Fishermen. This is part 1 of the exposè published by @TOIIndiaNews today based on an RTI. DMK’s two-timing will be exposed in part 2 of this exposè. DMK & Congress are answerable for the loss of innumerable lives of our Tamil Fishermen.”

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