CHENNAI: Archaeologist K Amarnath Ramakrishna, who first excavated Keezhadi in Madurai and whose findings triggered a war of words between the BJP-led centre and the Tamil Nadu government, faced his 12th transfer in his 21 years of service as the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) relieved him from his post of Director (Antiquity) on Tuesday.
Ramakrishna, who was serving as the Director (Antiquity) and as Director of the National Mission on Monuments and Antiquities (NMMA), will henceforth be the director of only the NMMA.
While TN parties have been asserting that the Keezhadi report provides evidence to indicate that the Sangam Age — which shows the antiquity of Tamil — could be pushed back to 800 BCE, making it around 300-500 years older than what was earlier thought, the union government had demanded more data, evidence and proof to acknowledge that claim. Reacting to Ramakrishna’s transfer on Tuesday, the ruling DMK has alleged that “it is a ploy to withdraw the (Keezhadi) report and dilute the findings”.
The senior archaeologist, who is facing his third transfer since being promoted to the rank of a director, will have to shift from his office at the ASI’s headquarters in New Delhi to the office of NMMA located in Greater Noida, sources said.
Interestingly, H A Naik, the officer who had directed Ramakrishna to rework his report on the first two phases of excavation in Keezhadi (located in Sivaganga district near Madurai) with additional information regarding the dating, has been given additional charge as director (Antiquity).
It was Naik’s letter that kicked up a controversy last month as the DMK and other TN parties opposed to BJP had alleged this letter, which was sent around two-and-a-half years after Ramakrishna submitted his report, is a delaying tactic by the centre from bringing out the excavation results to the public domain.
The role of director (Antiquity) involved more responsibilities, including identification, registration, protection and preservation of antiquities and retrieval of any antique material located in a foreign country. In contrast, sources in the ASI said the scope and role of the NMMA’s director is limited.
The NMMA, which was launched first in 2007 by the then United Progressive Alliance government with the aim of documenting and creating a database of built heritage and sites in India, has made slow progress in completing its objectives. Though the initial timeframe set was five years, the project is still under way due to budgetary constraints and other limitations in the intervening period.
‘Established Tamil race’s antiquity with help of science’
The budgetary allocation for NMMA in 2024-25 was `20 lakh. Union Minister for Culture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, who was in Chennai recently, had remarked that Ramakrishna’s report was not scientific and further evidence was required, while dismissing allegations that the central government was intentionally trying to prevent Keezhadi’s findings getting published.
DMK’s youth wing has already announced a protest in Madurai on Wednesday, against the union minister’s remarks and demanding the immediate release of the report.
Before the news of Ramakrishna’s transfer broke out, Chief Minister M K Stalin, in a post on X on Tuesday, defended the archaeologist’s report, albeit not naming him, and said that the report did not require any correction. Appealing to the people to take part in large numbers in the demonstration on Wednesday, he said, “We have been establishing the antiquity of the Tamil race with the help of science and by fighting against all obstacles for thousands of years,” he said.
“It is not the excavation reports that are to be corrected, but those minds that refuse to accept the reports,” he added.
DMK MP P Wilson described the transfer as outrageous and authoritarian. “It is well- known how the BJP government exerted pressure on all fronts on him to change his findings. As the pressure to officially release the report was building, the BJP is attempting to bring in a ‘yes-man’ in his place who will withdraw the report and dilute the findings to suit their xenophobic narrative,” he alleged.
CPM MP Su Venkatesan said Ramakrishna, who has been firm on bringing out the antiquity of the Tamil language and the truth about Keezhadi excavations, has been “hunted relentlessly” for discovering the truth.
VCK’s D Ravikumar described the transfer as sudden and unwarranted. “This move reflects the BJP government’s vindictive attitude towards Tamils,” Ravikumar said.