Archaeologist Involved In Keezhadi Excavation Transferred Again In Six Months
New Delhi: Archaeologist Amarnath Ramakrishna, who has led the excavation of an ancient settlement in Keezhadi near Madurai and reportedly defended his findings on the site against the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI)'s direction that he revise them, was transferred on Tuesday (June 17) per a document shared by Madurai's MP.
The document, a circular published by the ASI dated Tuesday, said Ramakrishna stands transferred to the post of director at the National Mission on Monuments and Antiquities (NMMA) in Greater Noida from his current posting as “director (antiquity) and NMMA”.
Media reports say the archaeologist was last transferred only six months ago.
Last month – over two years after Ramakrishna submitted a report on excavations at Keezhadi in January 2023 – news broke of the ASI asking the archaeologist to rework and resubmit the report in order to make it “more authentic”.
According to The Hindu, the ASI's Hemasagar Naik had said citing expert opinion that three time periods involved in Ramakrishna's report required ‘proper nomenclature or reorientation’, while the time window spanning the 8th century BCE to the 5th century BCE, the earliest one involved, “appears to be very early”.
“It can be, at the maximum, somewhere in pre-300 BCE,” the ASI's communication was quoted as saying.
Ramakrishna, who was involved in Keezhadi's first excavation ten years ago, has reportedly defended his findings.
The Hindu cited sources as claiming that the Greater Noida office Ramakrishna was transferred to is “almost … defunct”. Deccan Herald's sources said the move appeared to be a “punishment”.
The circular shared on Tuesday also said Naik was transferred from his post as “director (E.E.), ASI HQ” to “director (E.E.) and (antiquity), ASI HQ”.
Politicians in Tamil Nadu, including from the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), have alleged that the BJP-led Union government is trying to suppress information about what lies beneath Keezhadi for ideological purposes.
Su Venkatesan, the Communist Party of India (Marxist)'s MP for Madurai who shared the circular on X, alleged that Ramakrishna is being “relentlessly hunted” for ‘uncovering the truth’ at Keezhadi.
Tamil Nadu chief minister M.K. Stalin said on Tuesday morning that the “Tamil race” had been fighting obstacles in its way “for thousands of years” and that “with the help of science, we have been establishing the antiquity of our race”.
He also endorsed a protest scheduled by the student wing of his DMK for Wednesday morning in Madurai. It is unclear if they were reacting to news of Ramakrishna's transfer.
Union culture minister and BJP MP Gajendra Shekhawat said last week that it is “not fair” that some people are using the report's findings – which he said are not well-supported – to “grow regional sentiments”.
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