New Delhi: Actor and politician Kamal Haasan met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday and urged him to recognise the Keeladi archaeological findings, which many in Tamil Nadu believe reaffirms the antiquity of the Tamil civilisation.
This was Haasan’s first interaction with the PM since the Makkal Needhi Maiam founder became a Rajya Sabha MP.
In a post after the meeting, Haasan said that he raised the issue “as a representative of the people of Tamil Nadu and as an artist”.
“Today, I had the honour of meeting the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi ji. As a representative of the people of Tamil Nadu and as an artist, I placed before him a few requests, foremost among them was the call to expedite the recognition of Keeladi’s antiquity,” he posted on X.
“I urged the Prime Minister to extend his support to the Tamil people in showcasing to the world the grandeur of Tamil civilisation and the timeless glory of the Tamil language,” Haasan added.
The Keeladi excavations near Sivaganga district in Tamil Nadu have unearthed evidence of an advanced Tamil settlement dating back to the 6th Century BCE, suggesting early urbanisation, literacy, and the use of iron tools.
The matter took a political turn after the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) withheld formal recognition of the excavations and their findings, citing the need for further scientific validation. The DMK and Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin immediately accused the BJP of ignoring the findings, so as not to upset the existing narrative about civilizations in the northern part of the country being older than the South. Critics alleged that this amounts to stonewalling and cultural suppression.
The BJP denied allegations of rejecting the report though, arguing that the government is only seeking stronger evidence to ensure the findings withstand global academic scrutiny.
Stalin had called this an “onslaught on Tamil culture”, calling the Keeladi findings evidence of the existence of an urban, literate, iron-using Tamil civilisation far earlier than previously believed.
