Watch | Katchatheevu | Impact of foreign policy issues during election season

It isn’t often when a foreign policy issue generates as much heat within India’s polity, but this week both the PM and the EAM set off a debate over a 1974 agreement with Sri Lanka that quickly saw pushback from the opposition, and some concern in Colombo. -The agreement was signed in 1974 and an exchange of letters in 1976 clarified the rights of both sides- -Katchatheevu, an island less than 2 square kilometres large in the Palk Strait, was found to lie on the Sri Lankan side of the International Maritime Boundary Line -Indian fishermen did not have fishing rights around the island, but they could use the land to dry nets, and were allowed to visit the solitary structure, a church for St. Anthony, especially on the day of an annual festival there -India received rights to the Wadge Bank – rich in petroleum -The final agreements in 1976 also defined the trijunction point in the waters between India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives You can find the agreements themselves on the MEA website, the links are given online The issue has been contentious for decades, but interestingly, when Mr. Jaishankar was Foreign Secretary in 2015, an RTI by the MEA shown by the opposition actually said that the agreement did not involve “acquiring or ceding” of any territory as none had been demarcated historically. 3.If the government is calling into question this agreement, then will it also take a re-look at other agreements made in the past with the intent to revise them, especially those that deal with territorial issues in the neighbourhood -With Pakistan, India has already called into question the 1960 Indus Water Treaty, writing about a year ago to the government in Islamabad that India is seeking to renegotiate the water sharing agreement that was guaranteed by the World Bank -In the case of Bangladesh, the government accepted the 1974 for the exchange of enclaves that was signed between PM Indira Gandhi and Bangladesh founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Already, the opposition there has called for an “India Out” campaign, although it hasn’t gathered much steam The opposition is also raising on practically a daily basis the India-China boundary dispute and China’s land grab along the LAC, which may become more pronounced as the election goes forward And ties with the Maldives have suffered in reverse, as ties with India were the target during the Maldives election, and President Muizzu has insisted on Indian troops being removed entirely from the island, setting a deadline of May 10 for the process to be completed WV Take: Just as New Delhi would prefer not to feature as a polarizing campaign issue when neighbours go to vote, it is best to leave foreign policy negotiations outside the briefing room on domestic elections in India as well.