TVK MLA and Fisheries Minister Srinath has triggered political discussion after refusing to comment on what steps the Vijay-led government was taking to retrieve Katchatheevu, despite the issue being aggressively raised by TVK before the elections.
When asked, “Sir, if you look at the previous governments, they consistently vowed to retrieve Katchatheevu; however, none of them actually fulfilled that promise. What specific measures is the current government taking regarding this issue?”, Srinath replied, “I cannot speak about that right now. No comments.”
The remark has drawn attention because in April 2025, C. Joseph Vijay, then the chief of Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), had strongly demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi assert India’s sovereignty over Katchatheevu ahead of his Sri Lanka visit.
At the time, Vijay had proposed a 99-year lease of the island as an interim solution while insisting that complete retrieval remained the only permanent answer to the long-standing fishermen crisis affecting Tamil Nadu’s coastal communities.
He had sharply criticised both the DMK and the BJP-led Union government for failing to reclaim the island and dismissed the DMK government’s Assembly resolution on Katchatheevu as “political drama” ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections. Vijay also pointed out that the island was ceded to Sri Lanka in 1974 when the Congress party was in power at the Centre and the DMK was ruling Tamil Nadu.
Katchatheevu, a 1.9 sq km island located near Rameswaram, was transferred to Sri Lanka under the 1974 Indo-Sri Lankan maritime agreement signed between then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Sri Lankan Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike. India later reaffirmed the maritime arrangement through the 1976 agreement.
Before the elections, TVK had repeatedly accused successive governments of abandoning Tamil Nadu fishermen and alleged that the Centre protected fishermen from states like Gujarat more strongly than Tamil fishermen, who continue to face arrests, boat seizures and harassment by the Sri Lankan Navy.
வீர வசனம் எல்லாம் தேர்தலுக்கு முன்ன தான்
இப்போ No comments 😂 pic.twitter.com/4T6b0AvpOw— தூய துறவி (@VSK_Talks) May 26, 2026
However, the issue has now resurfaced politically because TVK is currently in alliance with the Congress party – the very party under whose government Katchatheevu was ceded to Sri Lanka. Against that backdrop, Srinath’s “No comments” response has fuelled criticism from opposition voices and political observers, who argue that TVK’s aggressive stand on Katchatheevu before the elections has noticeably softened after coming to power and aligning with Congress.
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