Indian fishermen getting arrested in Sri Lanka due to pact inked during Emergency: Jaishankar

Weighing in on the impact of “The Emergency” on India’s foreign policy, Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Friday that Indian fishermen have been getting arrested by Sri Lankan authorities due to an agreement made by the then government with the neighbouring country.

“At the time, several big decisions would be taken without a debate. These days, there is a discussion about our fishermen going to Sri Lanka and getting arrested there. That is because of an agreement signed with Sri Lanka at the time of Emergency, under which the rights of the fishermen to fish in some part of Sri Lankan waters were given up by us,” he was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.

Jaishankar’s statement comes at a time when the DMK government in poll-bound Tamil Nadu has repeatedly written to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), raising concerns about the issue, seeking the Centre’s intervention to safeguard the lives and livelihoods of Indian fishermen.

As per government data, Sri Lanka arrested more than 528 Indian fishermen in 2024.

“If it was not for an Emergency Parliament, if Parliament at the time was a genuine Parliament, there would have been a debate and I do not know if the Parliament would have allowed such an agreement,” he said, adding, “The decisions taken at the time still show their impact in the state of Tamil Nadu”.

The state is expected to go to polls early next year.

Jaishankar was addressing the inaugural session of a mock Parliament organised by ‘Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha’, during which he also recalled that during the Emergency, the opposition side of the Parliament was empty as leaders were jailed.

On the 50th anniversary of the imposition of the Emergency, Jaishankar took aim at the Congress on Friday, stating that one family’s interests were placed above the nation. “All this happened because of one family… There is a movie titled ‘Kissa Kursi Ka’… these three words aptly tell the reason behind the imposition of the Emergency. When a family is considered above the nation, things like the Emergency take place,” Jaishankar said.

Between 25 June 1975 and 21 March 1977, India was placed under a state of Emergency under Article 352 of the Constitution. The Emergency, declared in a backdrop of mounting political unrest and judicial developments that shook the legitimacy of the ruling leadership, marked a turning point in Indian constitutional history.

--With Agencies Inputs