Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. K. Stalin on Sunday accused Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi of ‘‘uttering a lie’’ on the Katchatheevu issue to target the DMK and blamed him for ‘‘staying silent’’ over projects for the state. 

In a post on social media platform X, Stalin alleged that the Indian Prime Minister had ‘‘blatantly lied’’ in his rally at Kanyakumari on March 15 that Tamil Nadu fishermen are facing trouble from Sri Lanka only due to the past ‘‘sin’’ of the DMK.

‘‘The Tamil Nadu people know the true history pretty well; that the Katchatheevu island was ceded (1974, 1976 agreements) to Sri Lanka despite the stiff opposition of the DMK government. Is the Prime Minister naive to the extent of believing that a state government can give away a portion of the country to another country,’’ Stalin said in the post. 

Late DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi was the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from 1969 to 1976. The Chief Minister also sought to know the steps taken by the BJP regime at the Centre during the past 10 years to retrieve the Katchatheevu island from Sri Lanka.

Stalin wondered if Tamil Nadu fishermen were not considered Indians and why the Centre has not stopped their arrest and harassment at the hands of the island nation. 

‘‘Why didn’t the Indian government openly condemn Sri Lanka for announcing confiscation and nationalisation of boats of Indian fishermen,’’ the chief minister said. Stalin also alleged that only during the BJP regime’s tenure did the Lankan courts start the practice of awarding prison sentences to fishermen arrested for the second time. 

‘‘What action did you take to stop this,’’ he questioned Prime Minister Modi. The ‘‘usual lies’’ echoed in the Prime Minister’s rally at Kanyakumari, the chief minister alleged, adding that there was no answer to people’s question on the special projects implemented for Tamil Nadu. 

‘‘Why does the PM remain a ‘Mouna guru’ (silent guru) who is taking pride that he is the ‘Vishwa guru’ (guru for the world),’’ Stalin asked, taunting the Prime Minister over the fishermen issue.

BJP state chief K Annamalai hit back at Stalin and alleged that it was the DMK which was ‘‘silent’’ for 50 years on the Katchatheevu issue and that it was time for Stalin to introspect.

In a post on X, Annamalai retorted saying that it was the DMK which was in power in 1974 and only then had the Congress-led Centre ceded Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka. 

Referring to the DMK-Congress alliance, the BJP leader said the DMK was also part of the government at the Centre several times, but had stayed ‘‘silent’’ on the Katchatheevu issue for 50 years. 

Similarly, the DMK stayed ‘‘silent’’ when ‘‘over 80 fishermen were killed’’ by the Sri Lankan Navy during the rule of DMK-Congress alliance, Annamalai said.

Source: PTI

--Agencies