In April this year, Sri Lanka’s Tamil parties told Prime Minister Narendra Modi that India must ban bottom trawling in order to resolve the fisheries conflict. All the same, Indian political leaders across parties invoke it periodically, even though Tamil Nadu fishermen are mostly arrested well past Katchatheevu, close to Sri Lanka’s northern coastline. Last year, PM Modi’s post on ‘X’ accusing the Congress of “callously giving away” the island to Sri Lanka, sparked a controversy. Speaking at a government event in Chennai in May this year, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin said retrieving Katchatheevu was “the only permanent solution” to Tamil Nadu fishermen’s woes.