New Delhi: Moments after archaeologist KK Muhammed’s name figured in the list of Padma Shri awardees, congratulatory messages poured in, lauding him for “speaking the truth”.
The “truth” being referred to here is Muhammed’s belief that the Babri Masjid site was originally home to a temple.
JNU faculty member Anand Rangananthan tweeted saying, “When Muhammed was told he was going to be suspended for making public the fact that he had discovered temple remnants inside Babri, he replied, in Sanskrit ‘Lokasamgramevapi Sampasyan Kartumarhasi. Swadharme nidhanam shreya’ - I spoke the truth. Death is preferable while on duty’.”
Popular among the Indic thinkers, this Left-bashing archaeologist usually addresses the crowd at Indic gatherings with “deep jyoti, param jyoti, deep jyoti janardana… deep jyoti namastotay.”
Born in Calicut, Kerala, Muhammed attended the government higher secondary school in Koduvally. He goes where his belief in Ram Janmabhoomi takes him, sometimes quoting poet and philosopher Allama Iqbal when the latter called Lord Ram ‘Imam-e-Hind’. He also cites examples of Muslim-majority South East Asian countries where Lord Ram is popular and “worshipped”.
Muhammed has worked with archaeologist BB Lal, former director-general of the Archeological Survey of India who led the excavation team that first claimed to have unearthed the remnants of a Hindu temple at the Babri Masjid site in 1976-77.
In his lectures, Muhammed bashes the Left for not believing in the presence of Ram Temple in Ayodhya. “An archaeologist speaks on the basis of verifiable things. At the time of Ayodhya excavations, I was part of the group. There was evidence of the presence of Ram, but the Left made a hue and cry,” he said in one of the gatherings.