The Congress social gathering has weakened India’s unity, integrity and pursuits, Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned on Sunday, reacting to a media report that detailed what transpired in New Delhi’s energy corridors within the build-up to the controversial handing over of the disputed Katchatheevu island by Indira Gandhi’s authorities to present-day Sri Lanka in 1974.

PM Modi was joined by a bevy of leaders of the Centre’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who shared the hyperlink to the Times of India article on X (beforehand Twitter) and admonished the Congress for shedding management over the island in Palk Strait. Some of them highlighted views by India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who was quoted within the article as saying he didn’t give a lot significance to the island and “would don’t have any hesitation” giving up claims over it.

The documents, the TOI report said, were obtained by K Annamalai, Tamil Nadu’s BJP chief, through a Right to Information (RTI) application.

“Eye opening and startling! New facts reveal how Congress callously gave away #Katchatheevu,” PM Modi mentioned.

“This has angered each Indian and reaffirmed in folks’s minds- we are able to’t ever belief Congress!” he added in the same post, sharing a link to the article that pointed to indecision on the Centre’s part leading to the handover of the 1.9-square-kilometre island about 20km from Indian shore.

While Union Home Minister Amit Shah accused the Congress of working against “the unity and integrity of India”, BJP president JP Nadda mentioned it was “a part of Congress’ work tradition to surrender Indian territory given the slightest alternative”.

Sharing the link to the article, Tamil Nadu BJP’s Annamalai said it was the “first part of the chronology of the betrayal of Congress & DMK”. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), which guidelines Tamil Nadu, was in energy throughout the 1974 handover and within the run-up to it as effectively.

“Both these events selected to align with Sri Lankan pursuits, handed over Katchatheevu on a silver platter & put to danger the lives & livelihood of our Tamil Fishermen,” Annamalai posted on X.

Narayanan Thirupathy, another senior BJP leader in Tamil Nadu, repeated the charge and took potshots at the Congress and its political ally, the DMK. Thirupathy, too, said the decision to give up claims over the tiny island hurt Tamil Nadu’s fishermen community.

As the controversy snowballed, Tamil Nadu Congress spokesperson Americai Narayanan issued a rebuttal, stressing that his party is committed to the welfare of the state. He alleged that BJP leaders were trying to divide India through their “petty politics”.

The controversy got here simply weeks forward of the primary spherical of voting within the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections, with each the BJP and the Opposition alliance involving the Congress and the DMK eyeing a powerful efficiency in southern India. The BJP’s critics linked the controversy to the upcoming elections, and mentioned it was being propped up as a ballot situation.

What BJP’s RTI Reveals About The Issue

The paperwork cited by TOI report element how Sri Lanka, then Ceylon, pressed its declare on the piece of land proper after Independence when it mentioned the Indian Navy (then Royal Indian Navy) couldn’t conduct workouts on the island with out its permission.

New Delhi contested Sri Lanka’s declare for many years solely to acquiesce lastly in 1974. The paperwork convey ahead the indecision of earlier governments over the matter.

It cited a minute by first PM Jawaharlal Nehru on May 10, 1961, who dismissed the problem as inconsequential.

“I might’ve no hesitation in giving up claims to the island…I connect no significance in any respect to this little island and I might don’t have any hesitation in giving up our claims to it. I don’t like this pending indefinitely and being raised once more in Parliament,” the TOI report quoted Nehru as saying.

Nehru’s minute is reportedly part of a note prepared by then commonwealth secretary Y D Gundevia, which the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) shared as a backgrounder with the informal Consultative Committee of Parliament in 1968.

“The legal aspects of the question are highly complex. The question has been considered in some detail in this ministry. No clear conclusions can be drawn as to the strength of either India’s or Ceylon’s claim to sovereignty,” the ministry mentioned within the backgrounder on the time.

However, the then lawyer normal M C Setalvad, in 1960, opined that India had a stronger declare on the island shaped by a volcanic eruption.

Referring to the zamindari rights given by the East India Company to Raja of Ramnad (Ramnathpuram) over the islet fishery and different assets round it, Setalvad wrote, “The matter is on no account clear or free from issue however on the evaluation of the entire proof it seems to me that the stability lies in concluding that the sovereignty of India was and is in India.”

This continued from 1875 to 1948 and was vested in the State of Madras following the abolition of zamindari rights. However, the Raja of Ramnad continued to exercise his zamindari rights independently, without having to pay taxes to Sri Lanka.

In June 1974, the decision to hand over Katchatheevu was conveyed to then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi by then foreign secretary Kewal Singh.

Singh mentioned the zamindari rights of the Raja of Ramnad (Ramanathapuram) and the failure of Sri Lanka to show evidence to prove its claim of holding Katchatheevu.

However, the foreign secretary also said that Sri Lanka had a “very determined position” on Katchatheevu and cited “information” showing the key island to be a part of the kingdom of Jaffnapatnam, Dutch and British maps, TOI reported.