Centre's mindset must change: Stalin on Keeladi report
Chennai/Madurai: Chief minister
on Tuesday hit out at the BJP-led Union govt saying only the mindset of the people at the Centre should change and not 'reports.' He was referring to the Keeladi report submitted by archaeologist Amarnath Ramakrishna, which was yet to be published by the Union govt.
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Criticising the central govt for asking Amarnath to rework the report, Stalin invited party cadres to participate in large numbers in a protest organised by DMK students wing in Madurai on Wednesday against the BJP govt for not accepting the report.
"Despite hurdles faced by the Tamil community for several thousands of years, we have progressed to prove its ancientness through scientific evidence. What needs to change is not the reports but the mindset of people who are not ready to accept them," he said in a social media post.
DMK student wing secretary R Rajiv Gandhi told reporters in Madurai that the Union govt was deliberately delaying the publication of the Keeladi report.
"The findings from Keeladi prove the existence of a literate, urban Tamil civilization over 2,500 years ago. But the Centre is afraid it will undermine their Indus-Saraswati narrative," he said asking the public to support DMK's protest. Meanwhile, Madurai MP Su Venkatesan accused the Union govt of targeting Amarnath, who led the early phases of the Keeladi excavations, for bringing out unknown facts about rich Tamil heritage.
Venkatesan told reporters in Madurai that the transfer of Amarnath to the documentation wing in Noida was the latest in a series of actions aimed at suppressing the significance of Keeladi's findings. "In 2017, he was removed from excavation work and denied permission to write the report. Only after a legal battle was he allowed to submit his report. Two years after submission, the ASI has not released the report yet," he said.
Venkatesan said the Centre is sending a message that any official who reveals 'uncomfortable' historical truths would be sidelined. "This is not just an administrative transfer. It is part of a pattern of intimidation," he said.
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