In 1968, Ceylon’s ‘occupation’ of Katchatheevu sparked a debate

In 1968, India debated Ceylon's occupation of Katchatheevu, an uninhabited islet with historical significance and disputed ownership.

In the run-up to the Lok Sabha election, the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have raked up the issue of ‘ceding’ of Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka in 1974. Interestingly, six years before India and Sri Lanka signed the agreement on the islet, reports of “occupation” of Katchatheevu by Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) triggered a fiery debate.

In the early 1968, a few Ceylon immigration officials had moved into the islet on the eve of the annual festival at the St. Antony’s Church to cope with the movement of Roman Catholic pilgrims from both countries. This led to claims that Ceylon occupied Katchatheevu.

Members of the Jan Sangh, the Samyukta Socialist Party (SSP) and the Praja Socialist Party (PSP), including Madhu Limaye and George Fernandes, had fiercely raised the issue in the Lok Sabha on March 1, leading to “near pandemonium”. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi urged the MPs to wait till the government had full confirmation and said the Indian High Commissioner in Colombo had been asked to ascertain the truth of the reports.

“We have very friendly relations with the people and Government of Ceylon. I think if we say more on this issue now it may create difficulties,” she said, according to a report in The Hindu dated March 2, 1968.

Minister of State for External Affairs B.R. Bhagat had noted that the issue of the islet’s ownership had arisen even in 1921. “So far as possession is concerned, it is completely uninhabited. There is no water even,” he said.

G.G. Swell, an Independent member, pointedly asked whether “at any time the Ceylon Government put forward its claim to the island and does the Government accept that the question of possession is in dispute...I would like to know in whose de jure possession it was.” When Bhagat responded, “It was neither in the possession of India nor of Ceylon,” he was greeted by cries of “shame, shame” from a section of the Opposition benches.

A day later, the issue echoed in the then Madras Assembly, with two SSP MLAs walking out after an unsuccessful bid to raise an adjournment motion to discuss the reported occupation of Katchatheevu by Ceylon.