Politics · India Bureau
Tamil Nadu ministers renew Katchatheevu handover criticism against DMK
Ruling TVK party ministers have reignited the decades-old Katchatheevu dispute in the Tamil Nadu assembly, accusing the previous DMK administration of failing to prevent the 1974 handover of the island to Sri Lanka.
LSN India ·
The contentious Katchatheevu island row has surfaced anew in Tamil Nadu's legislative assembly, with ministers from the ruling Tamizhaga Vetri Kazhagam party attacking the previous DMK-led government over the 1974 territorial transfer to Sri Lanka. The ministers alleged that the then Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi and his administration had been negligent in opposing the Centre's decision to hand over the strategic island, located in the Palk Strait between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka.
The Katchatheevu dispute has remained a politically sensitive issue in Tamil Nadu for nearly five decades, with multiple governments and political parties periodically raising the matter. The island's transfer under the Indo-Sri Lanka Maritime Boundary Agreement signed by the two nations has been a point of contention, with various Tamil Nadu factions arguing that the handover compromised the state's interests and fishing communities' livelihoods.
The renewed parliamentary discussion reflects ongoing tensions over the agreement's implications for Tamil fishermen who traditionally operated in waters around the island. The TVK ministers' accusations against the DMK represent the latest chapter in a long-standing political dispute that continues to resonate across state politics and electoral discourse.