‘Katchatheevu Island Nothing More Than A Rock For Pandit Nehru, Indira Gandhi’: S Jaishankar

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, in a press conference elaborated on the dispute between India and Sri Lanka on the Katchatheevu island. The remarks come after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the Congress party ‘callously’ gave away the island to Sri Lanka, triggering a war of words between BJP and Congress. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge responded to PM Modi’s claims and said that the island was given away to Sri Lanka as part of a friendly agreement. “But the most important discussion was what happened in 1974, a few months before the Katchatheevu agreement was made. Whether it was Pandit Nehru or Indira Gandhi, Katchatheevu for them was nothing more than a 'rock', 'a small island of no importance',” Jaishankar claimed, adding that that has been the historic attitude of the Congress towards Katchatheevu. Jaishankar said there have been claims and counterclaims between India and Sri Lanka over the Katchatheevu island. He highlighted India’s claim that Katchatheevu island belonged to Raja of Ramnad, who had received it from the East India Company. As it was part of the Raja’s zamindari rights, it eventually moved to the then Madras government.