Keeladi excavation: Archaeologist Ramakrishna transferred, DMK MP criticises move

New Delhi, Jun 18 (PTI) Archaeologist Amarnath Ramakrishna, known for leading the Keeladi excavation in Tamil Nadu, has been "transferred" out of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) headquarters here and will now hold only the charge of the director of National Mission on Monuments and Antiquities (NMMA).

Earlier, he held the position of Director (Antiquity) at the ASI headquarters, besides being the director of the NMMA, Greater Noida.

According to an official order of June 17, Ramakrishna has been "transferred with immediate effect and until further orders".

Ramakrishna had recently defended his voluminous report on the Keeladi excavation, submitted to the ASI earlier.

ASI falls under the purview of the Ministry of Culture and is headquartered at Dharohar Bhawan in Delhi.

A senior ASI official said Ramakrishna was earlier holding two charges "and now he will be holding only one charge" and "will not be officiating from Dharohar Bhawan".

"It is routine, regular practice. The DG (ASI) has the prerogative to decide which portfolio to be given to whom. He was already looking after NMMA (as its director)," the official added.

According to the official order issued by the ASI, archaeologist H A Naik has been given additional charge as Director (Antiquity) at the ASI headquarters.

"He will for the time being hold the charge of Director (Antiquity)," the official said.

On June 10, Union Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat had said that further studies were needed to validate the ASI findings on an ancient civilisation at Keeladi in Sivaganga district, his statements drawing sharp reactions from some members of the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu.

DMK's Rajya Sabha member P Wilson has criticised the transfer of Ramakrishna and even posted a copy of the order in a post on X.

"I strongly condemn the outrageous and authoritarian transfer of archaeologist Thiru Amarnath Ramakrishna who led the #Keezhadi excavation from his present position," he said.

"It is well known how the BJP Government exerted pressure on all fronts on him to change his findings and he refused to budge. 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," the DMK MP charged.

"Truth will triumph," he also wrote in his post.

There was no immediate reaction from the BJP.

However, the ASI official said, "I don't think this move is connected to anything political, this is absolutely a technical transfer which keeps happening inside a department. It is absolutely an internal transfer." Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on June 13 had alleged that the BJP promoted the mythical Sarasvati civilisation without credible evidence while dismissing the rigorously proven antiquity of Tamil culture.

On May 29, the Ministry of Culture had issue a statement in the context of the Keeladi excavation.

"The Archaeological Survey of India regularly publishes the reports of sites excavated under the aegis of Director General, ASI. Great emphasis is given to this aspect, since much time, energy and money is spent on every excavation work and the basic purpose of the excavation work otherwise, remains unfulfilled," it said.

In a set process, after the submission of the reports by the excavators, those are then sent to various subject experts, who are requested to "vet the reports for publication," it said.

"Various alterations, as suggested by the subject experts, are carried out by the excavators and resubmitted finally for publication. These are then published as Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey of India (MASI)," the ministry said.

"The same procedure was adopted in case of the Keeladi report, wherein the report was sent for the vetting to experts. Accordingly, the excavator of the Keeladi has been communicated the suggestions of the experts for making necessary correction in the draft report submitted by him, but he did not carry out the correction till date," the statement said. PTI KND ZMN