Kishtwar (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], April 16 (ANI): Referring to the row over the Katchatheevu island, Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Tuesday accused the Congress of endangering India’s sovereignty and national interests.
Stressing upon BJP’s “Ab ki baar 400 paar” slogan for the Lok Sabha polls, Thakur said, “We are fighting a battle of 400 and Congress is fighting a battle of 40. There is no leader in the INDIA bloc nor do they have any intentions (Naa neeti hai naa neeyat). These are people of the ‘tukde-tukde’ gang who want to see the country divided. They want to weaken the country. They will never think about the country’s interests”.
The minister accused the Congress party of historical betrayals, alleging that during their tenure in power, they compromised India’s territorial integrity.
“The Congress party, during their time in power, ceded vast stretches of Indian land to China, allowed Pakistan to occupy Kashmir, and gave up control of Kachchatheevu Island. The Congress party has done injustice to the country,” Thakur asserted.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had recently targeted Congress over “ceding” of the Katchatheevu island to Sri Lanka in 1974. He cited a media report and alleged that new facts revealed that the Congress “callously” gave away Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka.
The media report was based on an RTI reply received by Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai to his queries on the 1974 agreement between India and Lanka when Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister.
Echoing the party’s stand Defence Minister Rajnath Singh drew a comparison between the Congress and the BJP government at the Centre and said that his government established a good diplomatic relationship with Sri Lanka so that Indian fishermen do not face problems in comparison with the Congress regime 10 years ago.
Addressing the longstanding Kachchatheevu Island issue, he said, “Everyone knows the Kachchatheevu Island issue…It was done by Congress, not us. But, so that our fishermen do not face any problems, we established a good diplomatic relationship with Sri Lanka. You know what the condition was 10 years ago.” (ANI)
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