The Evening Wrap: Opposition hits back on Katchatheevu issue citing 2015 MEA response

Hours after External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar blamed the previous Congress governments for “giving away” the Katchatheevu island to Sri Lanka, Opposition leaders hit back by citing a 2015 response of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) that clearly stated the previous agreements did not “involve either acquiring or ceding of territory belonging to India”. The Opposition leaders asked if the “change of stance” by the Narendra Modi government was related to “election politics”. “Tit for tat is old. Tweet for Tweet is the new weapon. Will Foreign Minister Mr. Jaishankar please refer to the RTI [Right to Information] reply dated 27-1-2015...The Reply justified the circumstances under which India acknowledged that a small island belonged to Sri Lanka,” former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said in a post on social media platform X. “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 added. In a post on X, Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackery (UBT) leader and Rajya Sabha member Priyanka Chaturvedi shared the 2015 RTI response from the MEA which said Katchatheevu Island lies on the Sri Lanka side of the India-Sri Lanka International Maritime Boundary Line that was delineated by the 1974 agreement demarcating it in the Palk Straits, and a subsequent 1976 agreement demarcating it in the Gulf of Mannar and Bay of Bengal. “This did not involve either acquiring or ceding of territory belonging to India since the area in question had never been demarcated. Under the Agreements, the Island of Katchatheevu lies on the Sri Lankan side of the India-Sri Lanka International Maritime Boundary Line,” the MEA had said on January 27, 2015. “Today, the Foreign Minister and yesterday the PM claimed it has been ‘ceded’ So is the change in stance for their election politics or has Modi-ji made a case for Sri Lanka?” Chaturvedi asked. Former Union Minister Anand Sharma, in a post on X, said India’s strategic interests and relationships with its neighbours must not be lost to electoral narrative. “India’s leaders must be mindful of the facts of History, sensitivities of the neighbours and country’s national interests,” Sharma posted, adding, ”The accusation of surrendering territory against Indira ji who ensured the merger of Sikkim and liberation of Bangladesh is unwarranted and unfair.” Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh asked if the Minister of External Affairs was “disowning the reply given by the Ministry of External Affairs when the same Dr. Jaishankar was Foreign Secretary”. “The easiest to hunt in a political expedition is a scapegoat. Who will it be?” Ramesh asked. Hitting back at Modi, who had accused the Congress of gifting away the island and surrendering fishing rights, several Congress leaders asked Modi to talk about alleged Chinese incursions into Indian territory. “Just like the Land Boundary Agreement with Bangladesh, Katchatheevu was done out of friendship. But what you are doing with China is out of fear,” Congress leader Pawan Khera alleged. “Chinese troops have come into thousands of kilometres into our territory. Sonam Wangchuk has been raising it in Ladakh, your MP from Arunachal Pradesh Tapir Gao has raised. And you gave a clean chit to China with your eyes closed. That is fear,” Khera said. No coercive action against Congress over tax demand notices in view of Lok Sabha polls: I-T Dept to Supreme Court Amidst allegations of ‘tax terrorism’, the Income Tax department in the Supreme Court on April 1 stated its resolve to not take any ‘coercive steps’ against the Indian National Congress on tax demands to the tune of approximately ₹3,500 crore raised in March in view of the General Elections. At the very outset of the hearing before a Bench headed by Justice B.V. Nagarathna, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta stated that “since election is going on, we do not want any problem to arise for any political party… We will not take any coercive steps till the case is heard again on July 24, 2024”. “He [Mehta] has rendered me speechless…” senior advocate A.M. Singhvi, for the Congress, reacted to the unexpected turn of events. Trouble had been mounting for the Congress with fresh notices from the Income Tax department raising a tax demand of ₹1,745 crore for the assessment years 2014-15 to 2016-17. With the latest notice, the Income Tax department had raised a total demand of ₹3,567 crore from the Congress. The fresh tax notices related to 2014-15 (₹663 crore), 2015-16 (around ₹664 crore) and 2016-17 (around ₹417 crore). The authorities had ended the tax exemption available to political parties and had taxed the party for gross receipt based on a Delhi High Court order of March 2016. The Congress has challenged the High Court order that gross receipt was taxable. “Gross receipt is never taxable. Only total income is taxable. We are a political party, not a profit-making organisation,” Singhvi argued. He raised the issue that Section 13A of the Income Tax Act provided tax exemption to political parties. Mehta said the total of over ₹3,500 crore was a “block assessment” of the past seven years. This was excluding the ₹135 crore recovered from the party through attachment. He said the department had willingly made the “concession” to avoid coercive measures in view of the prevailing circumstances of the elections. He made it a point to state that the leeway had been allowed to the Congress despite the fact that the tax demands of March 2024 for over ₹3,500 crore were not strictly relatable to the appeals pending in the Supreme Court. Posting the case for hearing on merits, the top court recorded in its order that “the issues which arise in these appeals are yet to be adjudicated, but statement has been made by the Solicitor General that the Income Tax department does not wish to precipitate the matter in as much as no coercive steps shall be taken with regard to the demand of ₹3,500 crore approximately”. The court further recorded the statement of the department that the Congress need not have any “apprehensions regarding any coercive steps”. The Congress had raised the issue that the slew of tax notices issued on the eve of the Lok Sabha polls would tilt the level playing field in favour of the ruling BJP. Arvind Kejriwal sent to judicial custody till April 15 in Delhi Excise policy case Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was sent to judicial custody till April 15 on April 1. He was produced before Special Judge Kaveri Baweja in a Delhi court in a jam-packed courtroom after his Enforcement Directorate (ED) custodial remand ended in the Excise policy-linked money laundering case. The ED had sought 15-day judicial custody of Kejriwal, saying he was “totally uncooperative”. Speaking to reporters before entering court, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader said, “Whatever the Prime Minister is doing [referring to his arrest] is not good for the country”. AAP Ministers Atishi, Saurabh Bhardwaj and Kejriwal’s wife Sunita Kejriwal were present in court. The ED had arrested Kejriwal on March 21 in connection with the case. The next day, Special Judge Baweja remanded him in the custody of the ED till March 28. Following this, the court allowed the ED’s plea requesting extension of his custodial interrogation by four days till April 1. In its remand application, the probe agency has accused the AAP leader of “being involved in the entire conspiracy of Delhi liquor scam, in drafting and implementation of the policy, for favouring and benefiting the quid pro receiving kickbacks and eventually using part of proceeds of crime generated out of the scheduled offence in the election campaign for Goa Assembly elections”. BJP urges the ECI to take action against Rahul Gandhi over his ‘match fixing’ comment A day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at the Opposition INDIA bloc rally accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “match fixing” the 2024 Lok Sabha through the use of enforcement agencies against Opposition leaders, the BJP urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to take the “strictest action”. A BJP delegation comprising Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and BJP national general secretary Arun Singh lodged the complaint against Gandhi with the ECI. Addressing reporters after their meeting with EC officials, Puri said Gandhi’s comments during the public meeting were “extremely objectionable” as they were “not just in violation of the model code of conduct but could have serious implications”. “Addressing the public meeting yesterday, Rahul Gandhi said this [the Lok Sabha election] is a fixed match. He also said that the Central government has deployed its people in the Election Commission. He also raised questions on the credibility of the EVMs (electronic voting machines) and said the Constitution will be cancelled (changed) after elections,” Puri said. “We urged the Election Commission to take strictest action against Rahul Gandhi, other Congress leaders, and those of the Opposition’s INDIA alliance,” he added. Singh accused Gandhi of repeatedly making such comments, and said the ECI should consider censuring him from speaking during the Lok Sabha elections as the Congress leader would not stop making such remarks. Poll roundup Censuring BJP leader Dilip Ghosh and Congress’ Supriya Shrinate, the Election Commission of India on April 1 said it was convinced that the two leaders made “low-level personal attacks” against women and thus violated the provisions of Model Code of Conduct. In separate notices issued to both, the commission said their election related communications will be specially and additionally monitored from now on. A copy of the notices were also marked to the respective party chiefs asking them to sensitise their functionaries to be careful while communicating in public domain. The road map for the government’s “Viksit Bharat” agenda took centre stage at the first meeting of the BJP’s election manifesto committee on April 1 as eight Union Ministers and three Chief Ministers joined other party leaders to deliberate on its key promises for the Lok Sabha elections. Defence Minister and former BJP president Rajnath Singh chaired the meeting, with Union minister Piyush Goyal telling reporters that the party has received over 3.75 lakh suggestions through its missed call service and nearly 1.70 lakh on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s app (Namo). The Kerala unit of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) will support the United Democratic Front (UDF) in the Lok Sabha elections. The decision to support the UDF came based on the “inference” that the Congress party is leading the INDIA alliance against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said Ashraf Maulavi, Kerala president of SDPI, here on April 1. The party will not field its candidates in Kerala, though it has decided to contest the Lok Sabha elections from 18 seats nationwide, he said. On the support being extended to the UDF, Maulavi said the party is also impressed by the announcement by the Congress that it will conduct caste census in the country if voted to power. In BriefPolling months to see above normal temperatures: IMD India is set to experience extreme heat during the April to June period, with the central and western peninsular parts expected to face the worst impact, the IMD said on April 1 as the country prepares for seven-phase general elections from April 19. India Meteorological Department (IMD) Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said above-normal maximum temperatures are likely over most parts of the country during the April-June period, with a high probability over central and western peninsular India. Gyanvapi case: SC retains status quo; Hindu worship to continue in cellar while Muslims offer namaaz in mosque and courtyard The Supreme Court on April 1 refused to stay the Hindu prayers in the southern cellar of the Gyanvapi mosque and sought response of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple trustees on the plea of the mosque management committee. The top court also ordered maintaining of status quo on offering of namaz by Muslims in the Gyanvapi premises in Varanasi. The court was hearing a fresh plea of the Gyanvapi mosque management committee against an Allahabad High Court decision upholding a lower court’s order allowing Hindu prayers in the southern cellar of the mosque. A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud also sought response of priest Shailendra Kumar Pathak Vyas by April 30 on the plea of the mosque committee. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 01 April 2024 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [[Arrow]Open in browser]( [[Mail icon]More newsletters]( Katchatheevu agreement did not ‘cede’ territory, Opposition hits back citing 2015 MEA response Hours after External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar blamed the previous Congress governments for “giving away” the Katchatheevu island to Sri Lanka, [Opposition leaders hit back by citing a 2015 response of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) that clearly stated the previous agreements did not “involve either acquiring or ceding of territory belonging to India”](. The Opposition leaders asked if the “change of stance” by the Narendra Modi government was related to “election politics”. “Tit for tat is old. Tweet for Tweet is the new weapon. Will Foreign Minister Mr. Jaishankar please refer to the RTI [Right to Information] reply dated 27-1-2015...The Reply justified the circumstances under which India acknowledged that a small island belonged to Sri Lanka,” former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said in a post on social media platform X. “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 added. In a post on X, Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackery (UBT) leader and Rajya Sabha member Priyanka Chaturvedi shared the 2015 RTI response from the MEA which said Katchatheevu Island lies on the Sri Lanka side of the India-Sri Lanka International Maritime Boundary Line that was delineated by the 1974 agreement demarcating it in the Palk Straits, and a subsequent 1976 agreement demarcating it in the Gulf of Mannar and Bay of Bengal. “This did not involve either acquiring or ceding of territory belonging to India since the area in question had never been demarcated. Under the Agreements, the Island of Katchatheevu lies on the Sri Lankan side of the India-Sri Lanka International Maritime Boundary Line,” the MEA had said on January 27, 2015. “Today, the Foreign Minister and yesterday the PM claimed it has been ‘ceded’ So is the change in stance for their election politics or has Modi-ji made a case for Sri Lanka?” Chaturvedi asked. Former Union Minister Anand Sharma, in a post on X, said India’s strategic interests and relationships with its neighbours must not be lost to electoral narrative. “India’s leaders must be mindful of the facts of History, sensitivities of the neighbours and country’s national interests,” Sharma posted, adding, ”The accusation of surrendering territory against Indira ji who ensured the merger of Sikkim and liberation of Bangladesh is unwarranted and unfair.” Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh asked if the Minister of External Affairs was “disowning the reply given by the Ministry of External Affairs when the same Dr. Jaishankar was Foreign Secretary”. “The easiest to hunt in a political expedition is a scapegoat. Who will it be?” Ramesh asked. Hitting back at Modi, who had accused the Congress of gifting away the island and surrendering fishing rights, several Congress leaders asked Modi to talk about alleged Chinese incursions into Indian territory. “Just like the Land Boundary Agreement with Bangladesh, Katchatheevu was done out of friendship. But what you are doing with China is out of fear,” Congress leader Pawan Khera alleged. “Chinese troops have come into thousands of kilometres into our territory. Sonam Wangchuk has been raising it in Ladakh, your MP from Arunachal Pradesh Tapir Gao has raised. And you gave a clean chit to China with your eyes closed. That is fear,” Khera said. No coercive action against Congress over tax demand notices in view of Lok Sabha polls: I-T Dept to Supreme Court Amidst allegations of ‘tax terrorism’, the [Income Tax department in the Supreme Court on April 1 stated its resolve to not take any ‘coercive steps’ against the Indian National Congress]( on tax demands to the tune of approximately ₹3,500 crore raised in March in view of the General Elections. At the very outset of the hearing before a Bench headed by Justice B.V. Nagarathna, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta stated that “since election is going on, we do not want any problem to arise for any political party… We will not take any coercive steps till the case is heard again on July 24, 2024”. “He [Mehta] has rendered me speechless…” senior advocate A.M. Singhvi, for the Congress, reacted to the unexpected turn of events. Trouble had been mounting for the Congress with fresh notices from the Income Tax department raising a tax demand of ₹1,745 crore for the assessment years 2014-15 to 2016-17. With the latest notice, the Income Tax department had raised a total demand of ₹3,567 crore from the Congress. The fresh tax notices related to 2014-15 (₹663 crore), 2015-16 (around ₹664 crore) and 2016-17 (around ₹417 crore). The authorities had ended the tax exemption available to political parties and had taxed the party for gross receipt based on a Delhi High Court order of March 2016. The Congress has challenged the High Court order that gross receipt was taxable. “Gross receipt is never taxable. Only total income is taxable. We are a political party, not a profit-making organisation,” Singhvi argued. He raised the issue that Section 13A of the Income Tax Act provided tax exemption to political parties. Mehta said the total of over ₹3,500 crore was a “block assessment” of the past seven years. This was excluding the ₹135 crore recovered from the party through attachment. He said the department had willingly made the “concession” to avoid coercive measures in view of the prevailing circumstances of the elections. He made it a point to state that the leeway had been allowed to the Congress despite the fact that the tax demands of March 2024 for over ₹3,500 crore were not strictly relatable to the appeals pending in the Supreme Court. Posting the case for hearing on merits, the top court recorded in its order that “the issues which arise in these appeals are yet to be adjudicated, but statement has been made by the Solicitor General that the Income Tax department does not wish to precipitate the matter in as much as no coercive steps shall be taken with regard to the demand of ₹3,500 crore approximately”. The court further recorded the statement of the department that the Congress need not have any “apprehensions regarding any coercive steps”. The Congress had raised the issue that the slew of tax notices issued on the eve of the Lok Sabha polls would tilt the level playing field in favour of the ruling BJP. Arvind Kejriwal sent to judicial custody till April 15 in Delhi Excise policy case Delhi Chief Minister [Arvind Kejriwal was sent to judicial custody till April 15]( on April 1. He was produced before Special Judge Kaveri Baweja in a Delhi court in a jam-packed courtroom after his Enforcement Directorate (ED) custodial remand ended in the Excise policy-linked money laundering case. The ED had sought 15-day judicial custody of Kejriwal, saying he was “totally uncooperative”. Speaking to reporters before entering court, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader said, “Whatever the Prime Minister is doing [referring to his arrest] is not good for the country”. AAP Ministers Atishi, Saurabh Bhardwaj and Kejriwal’s wife Sunita Kejriwal were present in court. The ED had arrested Kejriwal on March 21 in connection with the case. The next day, Special Judge Baweja remanded him in the custody of the ED till March 28. Following this, the court allowed the ED’s plea requesting extension of his custodial interrogation by four days till April 1. In its remand application, the probe agency has accused the AAP leader of “being involved in the entire conspiracy of Delhi liquor scam, in drafting and implementation of the policy, for favouring and benefiting the quid pro receiving kickbacks and eventually using part of proceeds of crime generated out of the scheduled offence in the election campaign for Goa Assembly elections”. BJP urges the ECI to take action against Rahul Gandhi over his ‘match fixing’ comment A day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at the Opposition INDIA bloc rally accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “match fixing” the 2024 Lok Sabha through the use of enforcement agencies against Opposition leaders, the [BJP urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to take the “strictest action”](. A BJP delegation comprising Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and BJP national general secretary Arun Singh lodged the complaint against Gandhi with the ECI. Addressing reporters after their meeting with EC officials, Puri said Gandhi’s comments during the public meeting were “extremely objectionable” as they were “not just in violation of the model code of conduct but could have serious implications”. “Addressing the public meeting yesterday, Rahul Gandhi said this [the Lok Sabha election] is a fixed match. He also said that the Central government has deployed its people in the Election Commission. He also raised questions on the credibility of the EVMs (electronic voting machines) and said the Constitution will be cancelled (changed) after elections,” Puri said. “We urged the Election Commission to take strictest action against Rahul Gandhi, other Congress leaders, and those of the Opposition’s INDIA alliance,” he added. Singh accused Gandhi of repeatedly making such comments, and said the ECI should consider censuring him from speaking during the Lok Sabha elections as the Congress leader would not stop making such remarks. Poll roundup - Censuring BJP leader Dilip Ghosh and Congress’ Supriya Shrinate, the [Election Commission of India on April 1 said it was convinced that the two leaders made “low-level personal attacks” against women]( and thus violated the provisions of Model Code of Conduct. In separate notices issued to both, the commission said their election related communications will be specially and additionally monitored from now on. A copy of the notices were also marked to the respective party chiefs asking them to sensitise their functionaries to be careful while communicating in public domain. - The [road map for the government’s “Viksit Bharat” agenda took centre stage at the first meeting of the BJP’s election manifesto committee]( on April 1 as eight Union Ministers and three Chief Ministers joined other party leaders to deliberate on its key promises for the Lok Sabha elections. Defence Minister and former BJP president Rajnath Singh chaired the meeting, with Union minister Piyush Goyal telling reporters that the party has received over 3.75 lakh suggestions through its missed call service and nearly 1.70 lakh on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s app (Namo). - The [Kerala unit of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) will support the United Democratic Front (UDF)]( in the Lok Sabha elections. The decision to support the UDF came based on the “inference” that the Congress party is leading the INDIA alliance against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said Ashraf Maulavi, Kerala president of SDPI, here on April 1. The party will not field its candidates in Kerala, though it has decided to contest the Lok Sabha elections from 18 seats nationwide, he said. On the support being extended to the UDF, Maulavi said the party is also impressed by the announcement by the Congress that it will conduct caste census in the country if voted to power. In Brief Polling months to see above normal temperatures: IMD [India is set to experience extreme heat during the April to June period]( with the central and western peninsular parts expected to face the worst impact, the IMD said on April 1 as the country prepares for seven-phase general elections from April 19. India Meteorological Department (IMD) Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said above-normal maximum temperatures are likely over most parts of the country during the April-June period, with a high probability over central and western peninsular India. Gyanvapi case: SC retains status quo; Hindu worship to continue in cellar while Muslims offer namaaz in mosque and courtyard The [Supreme Court on April 1 refused to stay the Hindu prayers in the southern cellar of the Gyanvapi mosque]( and sought response of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple trustees on the plea of the mosque management committee. The top court also ordered maintaining of status quo on offering of namaz by Muslims in the Gyanvapi premises in Varanasi. The court was hearing a fresh plea of the Gyanvapi mosque management committee against an Allahabad High Court decision upholding a lower court’s order allowing Hindu prayers in the southern cellar of the mosque. A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud also sought response of priest Shailendra Kumar Pathak Vyas by April 30 on the plea of the mosque committee. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [Sign up for free]( Today’s Top Picks [[Katchatheevu | What is the controversy all about?] Katchatheevu | What is the controversy all about?]( [[What the recent UNSC resolution means for Palestinians in Gaza | In Focus podcast] What the recent UNSC resolution means for Palestinians in Gaza | In Focus podcast]( [[Daily Quiz | On GI tag] Daily Quiz | On GI tag]( [[Rajeev Chandrasekhar interview | ‘It is about replacing political culture of not doing anything with politics of performance’] Rajeev Chandrasekhar interview | ‘It is about replacing political culture of not doing anything with politics of performance’]( Copyright© 2024, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. 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