‘Correction needed for certain hearts, not for report’: Stalin on delay in Keezhadi excavation report

Continuing his tirade against the Modi government for the delay in releasing the report on the Keezhadi excavation on the pretext of seeking justifications on the timeline establishing the antiquity of the Tamils, Chief Minister and ruling DMK president MK Stalin on Tuesday said ‘what is needed is correction of certain hearts and not the report’.

Appealing for massive participation in Wednesday’s protest demonstration organised by the party’s Students’ Wing at Madurai, he said it should express the people’s sentiment forcing a change of heart in the Union government.

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The Keezhadi excavation report continues to be a point of friction between the DMK government in the state and the Modi government at the Centre.

The chief minister wrote in a post on X, “How many, how many obstacles for the Tamil race? Yet, we are proving our antiquity through struggles for thousands of years with the assistance of science. Yet the mindset of some refuse to accept it. What is needed is not a correction in the report, but a change of heart for some.”

The DMK and its allies as well as scholars and pro-Tamil activists have charged the Union government with wantonly delaying the release of the report as it places Tamil civilisation ahead of Vedic civilisation. This also suits the DMK to paint the BJP as anti-Tamil ahead of the 2026 Assembly election.

The rationalist Dravidar Kazhagam (DK), the ideological mentor of the DMK, is also holding a protest in Chennai on Wednesday. Besides DK president K Veeramani, senior leaders of the DMK and its allies are participating in the protest.

Meanwhile, the Union Culture Ministry, transferring archaeologist Amarnath Ramakrishna from Delhi to Greater Noida and removing as Director (Antiquity) at the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), has invited condemnation from the CPI(M) and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK).

It was Ramakrishna who headed the excavation at Keezhadi and prepared the report, obtaining carbon dating of the artefacts from Accelerator Mass Spectrometry lab at Florida, USA among other premier labs. He has refused to rework the report as demanded by the ASI.

“This move reflects the BJP government’s vindictive attitude towards Tamils. The continued non-publication of the Keezhadi excavation report has already sparked widespread debate and condemnation,” VCK General Secretary and Lok Sabha MP D Ravikumar said in a post on ‘X’, urging Union Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat to intervene and revoke the transfer order immediately.

Sahitya Akademi awardee and CPI(M) MP Su Venkatesan charged the Modi government with victimisation of Ramakrishna for remaining firm on his work establishing the antiquity of the Tamils. “Ramakrishna is being hunted for unearthing the antiquity of the Tamils and the truth about Keezhadi. The people of Tamil Nadu will give a befitting response to the vengeful actions of the Union Government,” he wrote on ‘X’, posting the transfer order.