South Central

South Central 32: Why the BJP fears Keezhadi and the angle ignored in Sonam Raghuvanshi case

By The News Minute

June 22, 2025 at 10:00 AM

In this episode of South Central, hosts Dhanya Rajendran and Pooja Prasanna, discuss the political resistance to the Keezhadi excavation report and why the findings are seen as inconvenient by the BJP government with journalist Sivapriyan ETB. Lawyer and author Rohin Bhatt joins the podcast in the second half to discuss the murder of Raja Raghuvanshi in Meghalaya and how forced endogamous marriages continue to turn deadly.

“Why was Amarnath Ramakrishna, the archaeologist who led the Keezhadi dig and submitted a 982-page report backed by scientific evidence, asked to revise it after 2.5 years?” asks Sivapriyan. “The report pushes the Sangam era back by 300 years but that doesn’t sit well with the BJP’s narrative.”

Pooja adds, “There’s a reason Keezhadi is being resisted. It’s urban, literate, industrial, and possibly non-spiritual. That disturbs the storyline the Union wants to push.”

The episode also looks into how the DMK is politicising the issue ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections.

In the second segment, lawyer and author Rohin Bhatt joins the hosts along with journalist Leena Reghunath to discuss the aftermath and media coverage of the murder of Raja Raghuvanshi in Meghalaya, allegedly orchestrated by his wife Sonam Raghuvanshi. This isn’t just about a woman committing a crime – it’s about caste, control, and why forced marriages continue to turn deadly, the panelists say.

“Agency is routinely denied in Indian marriages, especially to women,” says Rohin. “And when endogamy is protected through force, violence will follow – not just honour killings, but also retaliatory crimes.”

Pooja notes that the media often misses the bigger picture. “We’re not condoning murder. But we must ask what the societal structures that pushed her into this are”

All this and more – tune in.

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Audio Timecodes

00:00:00- Introduction

00:02:36- Announcements

00:04:58- Headlines

00:12:56 - Keezhadi

00:40:09- Sonam Raghuvanshi

1:15:22 - Letters

1:28:00 - Recommendations

References