"Anybody Lives On The Island?" Congress Leader's Katchatheevu Counter

Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Wednesday hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for raising the Katchatheevu issue again, and sought to know if anyone lives on the island.

PM Modi raised the Katchatheevu row at an election rally in Tamil Nadu this morning, saying that the Congress and DMK kept the state in the dark for many years.

When asked about his response to the Prime Minister's remarks, Mr Singh said, "I want to ask if anybody lives on that island."

Katchatheevu, a tiny uninhabited island between India and Sri Lankan mainlands, shot back into the limelight last week after the BJP accused the Indira Gandhi-led government of giving it away to Sri Lanka in 1974.

In 1976, after the Tamil Nadu government was dismissed during the Emergency, another pact restricted fishermen of both countries from fishing in each other's waters.

Hitting out at Mr Singh over his remarks on Kachchatheevu island, BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said that his comment shows the mindset of the Congress that they prefer to put family first, not nation.

"Today, the remarks of Digvijaya Singh show the mindset of Congress, that they always put family first, not nation. They always think that the country's territory is the private property of one family. Therefore, with this mindset, even Nehru ji had said in the 1960s that Kachchatheevu island is an inconsequential piece of land and should be given away. Because of that mindset when Aksai Chin was handed over to China by Nehru Ji's government, at that time he said that not a blade of grass grows on it, what is the difference. With this mindset, PoK was also handed over," he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. 

PM Modi has raised the matter at multiple rallies across the country and linked it to the capture of Tamil fishermen and the seizure of their boats by the Lankan forces.

"When the Congress was in power at the Centre, they gave Katchatheevu island to Sri Lanka. However, it remains quiet on which cabinet took the decision and who got benefitted. Several fishermen have been arrested in the last few years and then they (Congress) show false sympathy," PM Modi told a rally in Tamil Nadu's Vellore on Wednesday.