Half a century after India recognised Sri Lanka’s sovereignty over Katchatheevu, a tiny, uninhabited island in Palk Strait between India and Sri Lanka, the BJP has charged that the Congress government at the Centre gave away the island and the DMK, in power in Tamil Nadu at the time, was complicit in the act. The BJP has connected this to the seemingly unending crisis of fishermen from the state allegedly facing attacks from Sri Lankans at sea and, worse, being arrested and imprisoned, with their boats impounded by the island nation’s navy for crossing the international maritime boundary.
In Tamil Nadu, the BJP’s high-voltage attack has evoked quick responses from both the Congress and DMK, which pointed to a 2015 RTI reply from the ministry of external affairs that said the agreement “did not involve either acquiring or ceding territory belonging to India”. While the state’s two Dravidian parties have long demanded the island be retrieved, fishermen’s representatives have slammed the BJP’s campaign and questioned why the party did not make any effort to get the island back during its decade in power.
While it remains to be seen how the issue will impact voters on polling day, it is important for the Union and state governments to bear in mind that emotive rhetoric aside, the fishers of Tamil Nadu have genuine problems that are unrelated to the island. Not only are they regularly crossing the international boundary line, but are, to the dismay of Lankan Tamil fishers trying to rebuild their lives after the war and amid an economic crisis, also engaging in the damaging practice of bottom-trawling that is banned in Sri Lanka.
The solution is to switch to deep-sea fishing, which the Union government supports but fishers say is unremunerative given the low subsidies. Aside from losing focus of the key issues plaguing the fishing community, the national party’s campaign has also been criticised by foreign policy experts as one that can do harm to the country’s international standing. It is time to put aside rhetoric and listen to the fishing community—from Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu—and take far-sighted, meaningful action to resolve the issues.