The BJP was attempting to hide findings from Keeladi because of their hatred for Tamil pride, said TN chief minister and DMK president MK Stalin on Thursday, amid the controversy over Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) officer Amarnath Ramakrishna’s report on the archaeological site and his transfer two days ago. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin (ANI)

Describing ASI asking for additional evidence from Ramakrishna as a “blatant attack” on Tamil culture, Stalin in a letter to DMK cadre said that the party’s struggle on this issue will not stop.

Stalin added that the final report submitted in 2023 by Ramakrishna was based on scientific results obtained from laboratories in Pune, Bengaluru, Florida (US), and Italy, analysing artifacts from the Keeladi excavations.

Stalin questioned whether the BJP has evidence to prove the existence of a Saraswathi civilisation, which he said is imaginary. “The BJP-led Union government has demanded additional evidence on Keeladi over two years after a detailed report was submitted to the ASI in 2023,” Stalin said. “They are keen on suppressing Tamil cultural pride. This is a blatant attack on us.”

This also comes a day after the DMK’s student wing on June 18 protested in Madurai against the issue. “Tamils are Indians. However, neither the Prime Minister nor the BJP government acknowledge the significance of findings by the Tamil Nadu State Department of Archaeology (TNSDA) that Iron Age in the state could go back to 5,200 years ago,” Stalin said. “The responsibility to protect and establish the glory of Tamil culture lies solely with the DMK and its allied forces. The slogans raised in Keeladi and Chennai are just the beginning. They will continue to echo until Delhi. The DMK’s struggle will not cease until the pride of Tamil culture is firmly established.”

Stalin’s remarks also come a day after the DMK’s student wing on June 18 protested in Madurai against the issue.

Almost a month after he refused to rework his voluminous report on the excavations at the archaeological site of Keeladi, Ramakrishna was transferred by the ASI on June 17. Ramakrishna, who was director, Antiquity and National Mission on Monument and Antiquity (NMMA), New Delhi, has now been transferred to Greater Noida as director of NMMA.

This comes amid the controversy surrounding his report on Keeladi. In May, ASI had challenged the dating and classification of key discoveries from Tamil Nadu’s Keeladi excavations, Ramakrishna to carry out extensive revisions to a report that underpins the state government’s, and of rival Dravidian parties’, claims about ancient Tamil civilisation.

ASI asked Ramakrishna—who led the first two phases of excavations at the politically sensitive site — to rework his 982-page findings submitted in January 2023. The central agency said two experts had vetted the report and suggested five corrections to make it “more authentic.”

In his response, Ramakrishna on May 23, defended his report, stating that the chronological sequence of Keeladi has been clearly explained in the voluminous report. He had relied on AMS dating of 23 artefacts, which established their age to be 300 CE to arrive at a chronological sequence of Keeladi to be between the 8th century BCE to 3rd century CE. In response to his letter, the ASI said that they regularly send reports to various subject experts to vet for publication.

The transfers come days after chief minister MK Stalin on June 13 said that the truth from the findings in Keeladi does not serve the script of the BJP and RSS and so they are dismissing the rigorously proven antiquity of Tamil culture.

The chief minister has framed these archaeological pursuits as part of a broader ideological battle. On June 11, Union minister of culture and tourism Gajendra Singh Shekhawat had alleged that the DMK government was refusing to cooperate with the Centre on Keeladi research and politicising the findings.