Tamil Nadu received paltry share of excavation funds while Gujarat cornered 25%, alleges MP Su Venkatesan

CHENNAI: CPM’s Madurai MP Su Venkatesan on Monday alleged that Centre hasn’t allocated Tamil Nadu enough archeological excavation funds, receiving just 9.8 per cent of the total expenditure, even as BJP-ruled Gujarat alone accounted for a disproportionate 25 per cent of the funds share, pointing to what he called a clear regional imbalance in the saffron party-led government approach to heritage conservation and research.

Citing data provided by the Union Ministry of Culture in response to a question raised in the Rajya Sabha on July 24 by party colleague AA Rahim from Kerala, Venkatesan claimed that Rs 8.53 crore out of the total funds released by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) since 2020 were spent in Gujarat, with 94 per cent of that going to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s hometown, Vadnagar.

“While Gujarat received Rs 8.53 crore, Tamil Nadu was allocated only Rs 3.36 crore during the same period,” the MP wrote on the social media platform X.

The annexure to the ministry’s reply lists multiple excavation sites in Gujarat, such as Vadnagar, Vihar, Sarwal, and Lothal, which received a cumulative total of over Rs 700 lakh between 2020 and 2024. Vadnagar alone was allocated Rs 328.5 lakh in 2021 — the single highest amount for any site.

In contrast, major sites in Tamil Nadu such as Adichanallur, Kodumbalur, and Vadakapattu received much smaller allocations, despite their archaeological significance, the Left MP said.

“Until yesterday, they called him the ‘Vadnagar Nayakan’ (the hero of Vadnagar), today they claim he is the one who conquered the Ganga,” Venkatesan remarked, taking a swipe at the Prime Minister and recent political rhetoric celebrating him as a civilisational unifier.