CHENNAI: The replacing of the Indian rupee symbol with the Tamil letter 'Ru' in the budget presented for 2025-26 was to show how determined the ruling DMK was over the language policy, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and the party president M K Stalin said on Sunday.
While he had released the logo for the budget, "those who don't like Tamil made it a big news," he said in an apparent attack on the BJP.
The CM, in his regular "Ungalil Oruvan" (One among you) video address, also took a jibe at Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for her criticism of the rupee symbol issue, saying she could respond on the matter but not on Tamil Nadu's plea for funds.
"I had released the budget logo. We had the 'Ru' to show how determined we are in the language policy. But those who don't like Tamil made it a big news," he said.
The Tamil Nadu government's replacing the rupee symbol with 'Ru,' the first letter of 'Rubaai' that denotes the national currency in the vernacular language, had kicked up a row with the BJP taking strong exception.
"We had pleaded with the Union Government to give funds for 100-day job scheme (MGNREGA), disaster management, and release school education funds.
The union finance minister (Sitharaman) who did not respond to these, but has spoken on this matter," he said.
Even she had, in many posts, used the word 'Ru,' he claimed.
"In English, Rupees is written simply as Rs. That doesn't matter to them, but this seems to be an issue for them. Overall, our budget was a hit across the nation, as was Tamil," he said.
The CM was apparently referring to the language row between Tamil Nadu and the Centre.
The ruling DMK has been accusing the BJP-led union government of 'imposing' Hindi on the southern state through the National Education Policy, a charge denied by the latter.
The TN government has said it will not move away from its decades-old two-language formula, i.e.Tamil and English.
Stalin further said the budget presented on Friday has been receiving all-round accolades and sought to play down opposition criticism, saying while the government was open for constructive criticism, "some only have vendetta against us."
The DMK government has managed to contain the debt situation, he said, citing statistics.
Further, the government is keen to make TN a USD 1 tn economy by 2030, even while it has to strive for the state's rights and ensure justice in the wake of "threats" like decreased Lok Sabha seats post-delimitation and issues related to central fund allocation, he said.