Its cession was act of masterful bilateral and international diplomacy. Idea of the current controversy is to deflect attention from national, bilateral and global emergencies
Since 1956, when India and Ceylon recognised the need for a maritime boundary, the ‘Kachcha Thivu [sic] Island Dispute’ echoed in the Lok Sabha, only to be overruled by PM Nehru
The island was ceded by the Indian administration under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to Sri Lanka in 1974 in an act of bilateral largesse. Since the outbreak of the Lankan civil war, in 1983, the island became the crownless battleground for combats between Indian Tamil fishers and a Sinhala-dominated Lankan navy.
Irritants like the ill-treatment of Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Lankan navy and the Lankans allowing China a foothold in the vicinity are now running into India’s growing geopolitical heft and the Indian government questioning its predecessor’s cession of Katchatheevu in the 1970s