CHENNAI: MDMK general secretary Vaiko and CPI state secretary R Mutharasan on Wednesday accused the union government of deliberately delaying the release of the Keezhadi excavation reports, calling it an attempt to suppress Tamil civilisation’s ancient legacy.
In a press statement, Vaiko questioned why the union government has not yet released the findings of the first and second phases of excavation, carried out by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), when Tamil Nadu’s Department of Archaeology had already published results from the fourth to ninth phases.
Vaiko’s allegations come on the heels of Union Culture and Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat’s remarks in Chennai recently that the reports (on the Keezhadi excavations) of archaeologist K Amarnath Ramakrishna “have not been scientific” and the findings “are not yet technically well-supported and established”.
Criticising the union government’s stance, Vaiko alleged that the centre is more interested in promoting a Sanskrit-centric narrative while attempting to suppress the Dravidian roots of Tamil culture. In another statement, CPI state secretary R Mutharasan also condemned Shekhawat’s remarks, stating they undermine well-established scientific evidence supporting the antiquity of Tamil civilisation, as acknowledged by international scholars.