In the run-up to the Lok Sabha election, the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have raked up the issue of ‘ceding’ of Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka in 1974. Interestingly, six years before India and Sri Lanka signed the agreement on the islet, reports of “occupation” of Katchatheevu by Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) triggered a fiery debate.
In the early 1968, a few Ceylon immigration officials had moved into the islet on the eve of the annual festival at the St. Antony’s Church to cope with the movement of Roman Catholic pilgrims from both countries. This led to claims that Ceylon occupied Katchatheevu.
Members of the Jan Sangh, the Samyukta Socialist Party (SSP) and the Praja Socialist Party (PSP), including Madhu Limaye and George Fernandes, had fiercely raised the issue in the Lok Sabha on March 1, leading to “near pandemonium”. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi urged the MPs to wait till the government had full confirmation and said the Indian High Commissioner in Colombo had been asked to ascertain the truth of the reports.
