CHENNAI: Former finance minister and DMK MLA Thangam Thennarasu on Monday criticised Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat’s recent remarks on the Keezhadi excavation report, accusing the latter of attempting to politicise archaeological findings and undermine scientifically established evidence about Tamil Nadu’s ancient history.
The union minister’s remarks came amid a renewed political exchange between the DMK and the BJP over the significance and interpretation of the Keezhadi excavation findings.
In a post on X, Thennarasu demanded that the union ministry, if it believed Keezhadi’s antiquity had not been scientifically established, present evidence to challenge the existing findings rather than question archaeologists or delay the report.
He said Keezhadi’s antiquity was not based on political claims but on archaeological and scientific evidence, with independent radiocarbon analysis by the US-based Beta Analytic laboratory.
He said the TN Archaeology Department unearthed over 15,000 artefacts, which, he claimed, provided evidence of an ancient urban settlement. He also urged the TVK government to assert the historical importance of Keezhadi and defend the scientific findings of the state’s archaeology department.