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Jayalalithaa whips up Kachchativu issue; sidelines Tamil Nadu’s problems
For the first time in Tamil Nadu history, an incumbent Chief Minister has come down heavily on the Centre, describing an external affairs action as “unconstitutional”.
Chief Minister Jeyaram Jayalalithaa has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging the 1974 transfer of Kachchativu to Sri Lanka an unconstitutional act. Strangely enough, post-2016 TN assembly election, the Kachchativu issue continues to hog the limelight in State politics. At no point in time has Kachchativu received so much prominence in TN. Even when the uninhabited islet was transferred to Sri Lanka by the Indira Gandhi-led government in 1974, TN political parties were silent. A reference of the newspapers, on the issue, shows the topic did not get any space, as politicians then, had much more serious things to occupy themselves with.
The first session of the new TN legislative assembly saw the 1974 Kachchativu accord, become the main topic of discussion. The almost week-long session saw the islet getting more prominence than the day-to-day problems faced by the TN people. More than a discussion of any significance, it was a slanging match between the ruling AIADMK and the opposition DMK. While CM Jayalalithaa accused DMK supremo Muthuvel Karunanidhi for not doing anything to protect the interests of the fishermen vis-à-vis the islet (Karunanidhi was the CM when the accord was signed), the latter issued statements justifying his actions. Karunanidhi will not come to the House because both leaders do not see eye-to-eye for all practical purposes.
There were no major discussions in the assembly about the steps initiated by the government to face future deluges like the one which Chennai and surrounding areas witnessed in December 2015. It was the failure of the Chennai Municipal Corporation to ensure the maintenance of the storm water drainage within the metropolis, which ravaged the city for almost a fortnight, because of the unprecedented heavy rains. One cannot rule out the possibility of such rains as the Indian monsoon continues to be as unpredictable as ever.
Even as the TN assembly was discussing the Kachchativu issue last week, the Madras High Court dismissed yet another petition filed by a Tamil chauvinist in Chennai, pleading the court to issue directives to the Centre, asking it to protect and ensure the fishing rights of TN fishermen in the islet. The court was harsh in its verdict, that the issue came under the jurisdiction of the Central Government at New Delhi, and it was not for the Court to issue such policy directives. With this, all the litigations filed in TN courts on the Kachchativu issue have come to a close.
Navigation and mercantile law experts are unanimous in their view that Kachchativu is a settled issue, with no scope of opening same for future discussions. Veteran Captain of the Indian Navy and an authority on the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal, Hariharan Balakrishnan said the subject was not worth discussing. “It is a foreign policy decision by the Government of India. States do not have any say in such matters,” said Captain Balakrishnan, pointing out that governments in India and Bangladesh resolved the 162 enclaves spread across both countries. There were 111 Indian enclaves inside Bangladesh (population: 37,000), while there were 51 Bangladesh enclaves inside India (population:14,000). On August 1, 2015, both countries signed an agreement granting these people citizenship of their choice, and the issue which has been haunting since 1947 was resolved amicably. The West Bengal government led by Mamata Banerjee, fully cooperated with the Centre, as she knew it was an international issue which has to be handled by New Delhi.
It took almost 25 years for a TN politician to rake up the Kachchativu issue. Jayalalithaa approached the Supreme Court in 2008, challenging the constitutionality and legality of the 1974 accord signed between India and Sri Lanka. Even then, Karunanidhi, her bête noir, maintained his silence over the issue. Things of the past prove that TN politicians rake up the Tamil ethnic issue, as well as the fishermen’s problem when they do not have any work to do.
Following his party’s debacle in the 2011 assembly election, Karunanidhi revived Tamil Eelam Supporters Organisation (TESO) in 2012. He last attended a TESO meeting in 1986 and has not answered queries about what happened to the outfit since then. By 2011 he was out of work, as his party had been decimated in the assembly election, and the Grand Ole Man of TN politics was on the lookout for some kind of engagement, to be in the media limelight.
Early this week, CM Jayalalithaa, in a letter to PM Narendra Modi (that’s the only work she does routinely, whenever TN fishermen trespass the Sri Lankan side of the International Maritime Boundary Line, and get arrested, she sends a letter to the PM, blaming the island nation and its Navy for their “highhanded attitude”), declared the transfer of Kachchativu to Sri Lanka was unconstitutional. CM Jayalalithaa releases excerpts of the letters she writes to the PM, to the media, while remaining silent about the replies she has received to date.
The “concern” shown by TN politicians towards the Tamils in Sri Lanka is fake and bogus. Need proof? Wait till next week.