VHP slams Congress over Katchatheevu issue

The Vishva Hindu Parishad VHP on Thursday slammed the Congress over the Katchatheevu issue, saying the ceding of the island by the Indira Gandhi government to Sri Lanka in 1974 was a betrayal of Indias sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Thursday slammed the Congress over the Katchatheevu issue, saying the ceding of the island by the Indira Gandhi government to Sri Lanka in 1974 was a ''betrayal'' of India's sovereignty and territorial integrity. External Affairs Minister and BJP leader S Jaishankar on April 1 had claimed that former prime ministers of the Congress displayed indifference to the Katchatheevu island and gave away Indian fishermen's rights despite legal views to the contrary.

His remarks at a press conference came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi cited a media report to assert that new facts reveal that the Congress ''callously'' gave away the island to Sri Lanka. The VHP hoped that the ''patriotic and nationalist'' people of India will elect a government that can bring the island back along with other Indian territories ''occupied'' by neighbouring countries.

The Indira Gandhi government's decision to hand over the Katchatheevu islet to Sri Lanka was ''arbitrary and unconstitutional'', VHP joint general secretary Surendra Jain alleged in a statement. ''This was a betrayal of Bharat's sovereignty, territorial integrity and a betrayal of Parliament, the Tamil Nadu assembly and our millions of fishermen there. The Vishva Hindu Parishad strongly condemns the then Congress governments for their grave negligence and casualness towards the sovereignty and integrity of Bharat,'' he said.

Congress governments have always been ''insensitive'' towards the sovereignty and integrity of India and have always ''undermined'' national interests to serve their ''personal interests'', Jain alleged.

''In the upcoming general elections, the patriotic and nationalist people of Bharat will elect such a government at the Centre which can liberate not only the unconstitutionally gifted Katchatheevu island, its sea and air spaces but also the entire grabbed and snatched away land-sea-air spaces of Maa Bharati from the aggressors/grabbers and fulfil the resolve of our nation,'' he said.

The VHP is confident that in the Lok Sabha elections such a government will ''definitely'' come to power which can not only take back Katchatheevu but also fulfil the national resolve to take back ''all our snatched away territories'', he added.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)