 "P Chidambaram, S Jaishankar")
Former Finance Minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Monday launched a scathing attack on External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar over the latter's press-conference on the Katchatheevu Island issue, stating he had become a “mouthpiece” of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) from being a “suave liberal foreign service” officer.
S Jaishankar, known for his outspokenness among ministers in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Cabinet, stated today that former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru viewed Katchatheevu Island as a nuisance.
"This is an observation by the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in May of 1961. He says, he writes, I attach no importance at all to this little island and I would have no hesitation in giving up our claim to it. I do not like matters like this pending. Indefinitely and being raised again and again in parliament. So to Pandit Nehru, this was a little island. It had no importance. He saw it as a nuisance," S Jaishankar said.
Reacting to his remarks, Chidambaram asked why Jaishankar launched a tirade against the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the Congress.
"Tit for tat is old. Tweet for tweet is the new weapon. Will foreign minister Mr Jaishankar please refer to the RTI reply dated 27-1-2015. I believe that Mr Jaishankar was the Foreign Secretary on 27-1-2015. The reply justified the circumstances under which India acknowledged that a small island belonged to Sri Lanka. Why is the foreign minister and his ministry doing a somersault now? How quickly can people change colours? From a suave liberal foreign service officer to a smart foreign secretary to a mouthpiece of the RSS-BJP, life and times of Mr Jaishankar will be recorded in the annals of acrobatic sports," P Chidambaram wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Katchatheevu Island lies between Sri Lanka and Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu. In 1974, the Indira Gandhi government permitted Sri Lanka to take control of the island.
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“It is true that fishermen were detained in the last 50 years. Likewise, India has detained many SL fishermen. Every government has negotiated with Sri Lanka and freed our fishermen. This has happened when Mr Jaishankar was a foreign service officer and when he was foreign secretary and when he is foreign minister. What has changed for Mr Jaishankar to launch a tirade against the Congress and DMK? Were not fishermen detained by Sri Lanka when Mr Vajpayee was PM and BJP was in power and in alliance with different political parties of TN? Were not fishermen detained by Sri Lanka when Mr Modi was in power since 2014?” P Chidambaram wrote on X.
During the press conference, S Jaishankar asserted that the island, relinquished by the Congress government, held strategic significance.
"We are talking about 1958 and 1960. The main people in the case wanted to make sure that at least we should get the fishing rights. The island was given away in 1974 and the fishing rights were given away in 1976... One, the most basic recurring [aspect] is the indifference shown by the then central government and the PMs about the territory of India... That fact is they simply did not care... In an observation given by the then PM Jawaharlal Nehru in May 1961, he wrote, 'I attach no importance at all to this little island and I would have no hesitation in giving up our claim to it," he said.
Meanwhile, PM Modi slammed MK Stalin-led Tamil Nadu government, stating that it had undertaken no measures to protect the state's interests.
"Rhetoric aside, DMK has done nothing to safeguard Tamil Nadu's interests. New details emerging on Katchatheevu have unmasked the DMK's double standards totally. Congress and DMK are family units. They only care that their own sons and daughters rise. They don't care for anyone else. Their callousness on Katchatheevu has harmed the interests of our poor fishermen and fisherwomen in particular," PM Modi said.
On Sunday, he asserted that the Congress's actions were contrary to national unity.
Today, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin also questioned PM Modi's "sudden affection for fishermen."
The DMK supremo said in a lengthy tweet in Tamil that "there are three questions that the people of Tamil Nadu are asking those who staged a sudden fisherman's love drama for the election after being in Kumbakarna slumber for 10 years".
"If Tamil Nadu pays one rupee as tax, why does the Union government return only 29 paise?" the Chief Minister tweeted as the first question.
The second question directed to PM Modi was why wasn't Tamil Nadu "not given even a single rupee as flood relief despite facing two back-to-back calamities".
"In the 10 years of the BJP government at the Centre, was there any special scheme for Tamil Nadu?" Stalin asked as he posted the third question.
The Chief Minister also urged PM Modi to reply to the three questions "without indulging in diversions".
