MADURAI: Madurai MP Su Venkatesan on Tuesday condemned Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat’s remarks that the Keezhadi excavation report prepared by archaeologist Amarnath Ramakrishnan was influenced by the previous Tamil Nadu government and demanded evidence to support the claim.
Speaking to reporters, Venkatesan said Ramakrishnan had conducted the excavations when the AIADMK was in power and was transferred while the same government was in office.
He questioned whether the centre was alleging a political connection between the excavation conducted by him and the then government. He said Ramakrishnan had submitted the report to the Archaeological Survey of India nearly three years ago, but it had not been released.
The centre had earlier informed the high court that the report would be published within nine months. It later told the Parliamentary Standing Committee that an expert committee had been formed to examine it.
“If there are errors, the government should state which portions are incorrect and the scientific evidence on which the objections are based,” he said. The MP alleged that the Keezhadi findings challenged the BJP’s ideological narrative on the origins of Indian civilisation. “Keezhadi’s historical truth cannot be concealed by withholding the report,” he said.