“Unholy Agreement”: DMK MP Era Sezhiyan Fumed at Indira Govt for Hiding Katchatheevu Deal From Tamil Nadu

DMK MP Era Sezhiyan vehemently opposed the India-Sri Lanka Maritime Agreement, denouncing it as a detrimental surrender of national territory. Sezhiyan, on July 23, 1974, criticized the agreement, which saw India relinquishing its claim on Katchatheevu island, labeling it as an act of disgraceful statesmanship unworthy of any government. As the then Foreign Minister Swaran Singh prepared to make a statement on the agreement in the House, Sezhiyan declared their disassociation, opting to walk out in protest.

According to a report of TOI, DMK MP Era Sezhiyan expressed anger that the Indira regime had kept Parliament and the M Karunanidhi-led DMK govt in Tamil Nadu in the dark about the unholy agreement and the surrender of territory. His intervention was of a piece with the many by the DMK member that had already established him as an effective Parliamentarian.

However, there seemed to be a significant oversight in this instance: the typically vigilant Sezhiyan was likely unaware that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi had already given his approval to the agreement over a month earlier. In fact, it appears that the DMK leader was one of the few individuals, aside from the Prime Minister and "one or two senior Cabinet ministers, who may have been privy to the details of the agreement under discussion.

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Documents obtained from the Ministry of External Affairs through a Right to Information (RTI) request by the Chief of Tamil Nadu BJP, K Annamalai, reveal crucial details. On June 19, 1974, the then Foreign Secretary Kewal Singh, accompanied by B K Basu, Director of the Historical Division, met with Karunanidhi at the secretariat conference room in what was then Madras. Their purpose was to brief Karunanidhi on the agreement, and they left with his "general acceptance" of it. The official record of the meeting, which lasted over an hour and included the presence of Chief Secretary P Sabanayagam and later Home Secretary S P Ambrose, encapsulates Karunanidhi's response to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's decision to pursue the deal with Sri Lanka.

On the substance of the proposal, the CM indicated that he was inclined to accept the suggested solution. It also shows that Karunanidhi may have got to know of the agreement ahead of many in the Union govt and in the ruling Congress. He (Karunanidhi) wanted to know whether the Prime Minister has sounded the opposition, TOI reported.