Katchatheevu row: 'Neither ceded nor acquired,' Priyanka Chaturvedi quotes MEA's 2015 RTI reply

Priyanka Chaturvedi/ PTI

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi, adding fuel to the Katchatheevu row, shared a 2015 RTI response that claimed that the island was neither acquired nor relinquished and that it lies on Sri Lankan side of the India-Sri Lanka International Maritime Boundary Line, reported ANI.

According to the report, Chaturvedi underlined the apparent inconsistency between the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) 2015 RTI response and its present posture on Katchatheevu row. She urged the MEA to resolve these anomalies.

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The 2015 RTI response, apparently during S Jaishankar's tenure as Foreign Secretary, indicated that Katchatheevu was not subject to territorial acquisition or cession because its boundaries were never precisely defined. It confirmed that the island is located on the Sri Lankan side of the maritime boundary, the report added.

"Maybe @MEAIndia will be able to address these discrepancies in its RTI response in 2015 vis a vis 2024," Chaturvedi said in her social media post, per ANI.

Reportedly, the RTI response which Chaturvedi claimed was from MEA in 2015 read, "This did not involve either acquiring or ceding of territory belonging to India since the area in question had never been demarcated. Under the Agreements, the Island of Katchatheevu lies on the Sri Lankan side of the India-Sri Lanka International Maritime Boundary Line."

Chaturvedi questioned whether Indian officials' recent shift of stance, stating that Katchatheevu had been 'ceded', was motivated by electoral politics or a strategic adjustment in relations with Sri Lanka.

"Today the Foreign Minister and yesterday the PM claimed it has been 'ceded' So is the change in stance for their election politics or has Modiji made a case for Sri Lanka?"

Earlier, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar questioned the Congress party's historic stance on Katchatheevu, citing Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's disrespect for the island's importance. Nehru saw the island as a trivial matter and signalled a willingness to renounce India's claim to it in 1961, ANI report further stated.

"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," EAM Jaishankar had said, per the report.