Attacks on fishermen by Sri Lanka show PM Modi-led regime ‘weak’: CM Stalin
The Tamil Nadu chief minister also said the Katchatheevu Island, which was ceded to Sri Lanka by way of an agreement in 1974, must be retrieved.
Lambasting the Centre for its failure to resolve the issue of attacks on Indian fishermen by the Sri Lankan navy, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Friday (August 18) said the continued attacks on Indian fishermen shows the Union government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is “weak”.
Chairing a fishermen's welfare conference in Ramanathapuram, he reiterated that retrieval of Katchatheevu, an island ceded to Sri Lanka by way of mutual agreements in 1974, was the permanent solution for the plaguing fishermen issue.
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Stalin, who is the ruling DMK president, also said his father and late Chief Minister M Karunanidhi had submitted a report that Katchatheevu belongs to India.
The chief minister's reference regarding the ceding of the island comes days after PM Modi said it was the Indira Gandhi government which gave the Katchatheevu Island to Sri Lanka in 1974. The prime minister had also said the current DMK government in Tamil Nadu keeps writing to him urging to retrieve the island.
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Stalin further alleged that attacks on Indian fishermen from the state by the Lankan navy have increased during the current NDA regime.
The conference condemned the harassment of and attacks on Indian fishermen by the Sri Lankan navy.
