Hitting back at the Centre over the Katchatheevu island issue, Opposition leaders on Monday cited a 2015 RTI reply, which stated that the agreements in 1974 and 1976 did not involve either acquiring or ceding of territory belonging to India, and asked whether the “change” in Modi Government’s stance was for “election politics”. The Opposition’s response came after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday claimed that Prime Ministers from the Congress displayed indifference about Katchatheevu island and gave away Indian fishermen’s rights despite legal views to the contrary.

Jaishankar’s remarks at a press conference were made a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi cited a media report to assert that new facts reveal that the Congress “callously” gave away Katchatheevu island to Sri Lanka.

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram hit out at the government over the issue.  “Tit for tat is old. Tweet for Tweet is the new weapon. Will Foreign Minister Mr. Jaishankar please refer to the RTI reply dated 27-1-2015...The Reply justified the circumstances under which India acknowledged that a small island belonged to Sri Lanka,” Chidambaram said.  Why is the Foreign Minister and his ministry doing a somersault now, he asked.

“How quickly can people change colours. From a suave liberal Foreign Service officer to a smart Foreign Secretary to a mouthpiece of the RSS-BJP, life and times of Mr Jaishankar will be recorded in the annals of acrobatic sports,” Chidambaram said

“It is true that fishermen were detained in the last 50 years. Likewise, India has detained many Sri Lankan fishermen. Every government has negotiated with Sri Lanka and freed our fishermen,” the former home minister said.

“This has happened when Mr Jaishankar was a foreign service officer and when he was Foreign Secretary and when he is Foreign Minister. What has changed for Mr Jaishankar to launch a tirade against the Congress and DMK?” he said.