Latest news with #KAmarnathRamakrishna
Time of India
3 hours ago
- Politics
- Time of India
AIADMK, DMK spar over Keeladi
Chennai: Asserting that did not spend even a paisa for Keeladi archaeological explorations, on Friday accused it of politicising the excavation report submitted by ASI official K Amarnath Ramakrishna. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The DMK rejected the charges, saying DMK govt allotted 27 crore in the last four years for archaeological explorations in 37 places, including Keeladi. Addressing reporters at AIADMK headquarters, former minister Mafoi K Pandiarajan said the previous AIADMK govt was instrumental in the ongoing archaeological explorations and excavations in eight places. The govt acquired 100 acres from farmers amidst unrest and sent artefacts to advanced laboratories in the US, Singapore, and Italy for carbon dating and material analysis. When the Centre hesitated to fund further excavations, former chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami stepped in and allocated funds to continue the research by the state archaeology department, and reports were submitted to the Centre, he said. "Only the AIADMK did excavation in Keeladi, while the DMK politicised it," Pandiarajan said, adding that the EPS govt had allotted 105 crore every year. At Anna Arivalayam, DMK medical wing secretary and MLA N Ezhilan told reporters that Pandiarajan's statement that AIADMK allotted 105 crore for Keeladi excavation was a blatant lie. "The AIADMK govt allotted only 55 lakh." When Union govt halted the excavations abruptly in 2016, DMK MP Kanimozhi went to the court. Only after the court directed the resumption of the excavation did the AIADMK govt continue the exercise, he said. "TN people will never forgive EPS for betraying Tamil culture and its ancient heritage," Ezhilan added. Pandiarajan said the previous report on Keeladi findings proved Tamil was a developed writing system 2,500 years ago. The latest report from Ramakrishna outlined a different time bracket, prompting the ASI to ask for clarification. "You must respond. Instead, submitting the paper to (chief minister) Stalin and making him speak is nothing but politics," he said. Pandiarajan said the Union govt was not saying that Tamil was not ancient.
Hans India
3 days ago
- Politics
- Hans India
ASI Transfers Keeladi Excavation Chief Amid Tamil Nadu Political Row
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has reassigned K Amarnath Ramakrishna, the prominent archaeologist who spearheaded the significant Keeladi excavations in Tamil Nadu. Ramakrishna has been removed from his position as ASI Director (Antiquity) and will now serve solely as Director of the National Mission on Monuments and Antiquities (NMMA) based in Greater Noida. This administrative change represents Ramakrishna's twelfth transfer in his 21-year career and occurs during heightened political friction between the BJP-led federal government and Tamil Nadu's state administration regarding the interpretation and publication of Keeladi excavation results. Under the new arrangement, Ramakrishna will operate from NMMA's Greater Noida headquarters rather than ASI's main office in New Delhi. His previous Director (Antiquity) position encompassed extensive duties including antiquity protection, registration, and repatriation activities. ASI sources indicate the NMMA role carries more restricted responsibilities compared to his former position. HA Naik, the official who previously instructed Ramakrishna to revise his Keeladi findings with supplementary data, has assumed additional responsibilities as Director (Antiquity). Naik's directive, issued nearly two and a half years after the excavation report's initial submission, drew sharp criticism from DMK and allied political parties who accused the central government of intentionally stalling the publication process. Tamil Nadu's governing DMK party has strongly denounced the transfer, characterizing it as both "authoritarian" and "outrageous." DMK Member of Parliament and senior legal advocate P Wilson expressed criticism through social media, alleging that Ramakrishna faced central government pressure to modify his findings but refused to comply. Wilson claimed the administration seeks to install a more cooperative official who might weaken the excavation's conclusions. Chief Minister MK Stalin has previously expressed firm opposition to federal interference regarding the excavation, accusing Union ministers of showing disrespect toward Tamil Nadu's historical contributions. Stalin has also incorporated Keeladi references in recent public addresses, questioning the insufficient recognition given to what researchers believe represents the region's earliest Iron Age civilization discovery. The Keeladi archaeological site, situated in Sivaganga district near Madurai, has gained prominence among Tamil Nadu leaders for potentially extending the Sangam Age timeline to approximately 800 BCE, significantly earlier than previously established dates. However, federal authorities have requested additional data and supporting evidence before officially endorsing such historical timeline revisions. Union Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat recently reaffirmed the Centre's support for scientifically validated research while accusing the DMK government of politicizing the archaeological findings and failing to provide complete cooperation with ongoing research initiatives. The National Mission on Monuments and Antiquities was established in 2007 during the United Progressive Alliance government with the objective of creating a comprehensive database of India's architectural heritage and archaeological locations. The initiative, originally planned for completion within five years, has experienced substantial delays due to financial limitations and administrative challenges.
Hindustan Times
3 days ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
ASI archaeologist who authored Keeladi report transferred amid row
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has transferred Keeladi site excavator K Amarnath Ramakrishna almost a month after he refused to rework his report on the site of the ancient Tamil civilisation, officials aware of the matter said. According to the order issued on June 17, Ramakrishna has been transferred from his role as director of antiquity at the National Mission on Monument and Antiquity (NMMA) in New Delhi to director of the NMMA's Greater Noida office. This is the third time that Ramakrishna has been transferred within the ASI in the last nine months. The latest transfer comes a month after ASI asked Ramakrishna, who led the first two phases of excavations at Keeladi, to rework his 982-page report submitted to the agency in January 2023. The excavations at Keeladi, beginning in 2015, first narrowed the gap between the imaginations of the Tamil and the Indus Valley Civilisations (3,300 BCE to 13,00 BCE), the earliest known in the Indian subcontinent. This reconstruction of this ancient society evoked both linguistic and cultural pride, pushing Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin to claim that the Tamil civilisation was rich, modern and developed, and juxtapose Tamil pride against the Hindi heartland. This has come at a time when right-wing ideologues have increasingly argued that it was the indigenous people of South Asia who developed the Indus Valley and Harappan civilisation and were 'the Vedic people'. On May 21, the ASI asked Ramakrishna to resubmit the report on his findings after making necessary corrections in an effort to make it 'more authentic'. Five changes were suggested by the agency after two unnamed experts vetted the report. Two days later, Ramakrishna wrote to ASI, defending his findings and refusing to rework the report. DMK Rajya Sabha MP P Wilson condemned the transfer, saying the BJP-led Centre were attempting to 'dilute the findings' of Ramakrishna's findings. 'As the pressure to officially release the report was building, the BJP is attempting to bring in a 'yes-man' in his (Ramakrishna) place who will withdraw the report and dilute the findings to suit their xenophobic narrative,' he said in a post on X. Ramakrishna was previously transferred in 2017 after two phases of excavation at the site. His successor later said that the third excavation at the site yielded 'no significant findings'.
Indian Express
3 days ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
Today in Politics: Amid Keezhadi row, DMK to hold a major protest against Centre
The DMK-led Tamil Nadu government again finds itself at odds with the Centre, this time over the transfer of an archaeologist known for his excavation work in Keezhadi, an ancient settlement near Madurai in the southern state's Sivaganga district. On Wednesday, the DMK's youth wing is set to hold a protest in Madurai against the BJP-led Centre's move to 'sabotage' the archaeological findings at the site. The findings of K Amarnath Ramakrishna close the temporal gap between Keezhadi and the Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC) in the north to about a thousand years. This, coupled with a previous Tamil Nadu Archaeological Department study showing similarities between the signs and graffiti found in the Indus Valley and those discovered at dig sites in Tamil Nadu (including Keezhadi), has challenged the notions that historians and archaeologists previously held. As Adrija Roychowdhury explained in this article from 2023, 'Until very recently, the period of second urbanisation in India is known to have taken place between 600 to 500 BCE and concentrated in the middle of the Gangetic plains. It used to be argued that South India entered this historical phase much later in the third century BCE and that too with the intervention of the Mauryan king Ashoka who was known to have introduced writing in the region. This understanding of Indian history, argues Ramakrishna, was because most archaeological excavations in India were concentrated in the north.' As Ramakrishna told Adrija, 'We know that the first urbanisation in India happened during the Harappan civilisation. After the disintegration of the Harappans, they spread all over India and I am sure they came to the south also.' However, according to the DMK and proponents of Dravidian politics, the Keezhadi findings are an anathema to the BJP's Aryan-centric historical narrative that seeks to integrate South India into a pan-Indian Vedic cultural framework, portraying it as part of a unified Hindu civilisation. And that is why the ASI's Exploration and Excavation division asked Ramakrishna to revise his report, they allege. The ASI's letter to Ramakrishna said the proposed dating was 'very early' and suggested the earliest period should be revised to 'at the maximum, somewhere in pre-300 BCE'. Defending his work, the archaeologist rejected the demand. The DMK and its allies' response to his transfer was sharp, Arun Janardhanan reported. For the DMK, Dravidian pride is at the heart of its politics, and Ramakrishna's findings bolster it. However, the BJP government at the Centre has backed the doubts raised about the findings. Union Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said during a recent visit to Chennai that the report 'was not technically well-supported and established yet'. Following Shekhawat's comments, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin last week accused the BJP government of trying to 'erase' this history because it does not follow its 'script' and alleged that the BJP-RSS 'ecosystem recoils' when it comes to the Keezhadi and the 'enduring truth of Tamil heritage'. In 2023, when launching the archaeological department study on the signs and graffiti, Stalin had spelt out that his party's goal was to scientifically establish that the history of India must be rewritten from Tamil land. Earlier this year, after the authors of the study announced that their study showed similarities between the two sets of signs and graffiti — ones found at the IVC sites and those from the South — the CM announced a $1 million prize for anyone who deciphers the Indus Valley script. He also tied the study's findings to broader symbols of Tamil identity, particularly linking Indus Valley seals with the image of a bull to the Tamil tradition of a bull-taming sport such as Jallikattu. Coming at a time when there have been major differences between the DMK and the BJP over language, finances, and delimitation, this conflict over historical narratives adds another layer to the tensions in the run-up to next year's Assembly elections. Tamil identity politics is likely to be at the centre of the poll strategy of Stalin's party, and how the BJP counters this in the short run as well as the next few months will be something to watch out for. Suggested readings: Also happening today Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, who also holds the tourism portfolio, will begin a two-day official visit to Jammu and Kashmir during which he is scheduled to meet CM Omar Abdullah. Shekhawat is also scheduled to visit many temples, including Kheer Bhawani Temple, Martand Surya Temple, as well as Pahalgam and Betaab Valley in Anantnag district. — With PTI inputs
New Indian Express
3 days ago
- Politics
- New Indian Express
ASI transfers officer, DMK and Tamil Nadu parties cry foul
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.
