Tamil Nadu replaces rupee symbol with Tamil letter amidst spar with centre

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government has changed the rupee symbol in the state budget following differences of opinion with the Centre. The Tamil letter 'Ru' (Rs) has been replaced with the rupee symbol '₹' in the promotion materials for the state budget to be presented on Friday. The new logo was unveiled by Chief Minister M K Stalin on social media.

The Tamil Nadu government's new move is part of the fight against the central government's efforts to impose Hindi through the three-language scheme as part of the new National Education Policy. However, no official explanation has been released regarding the change in the symbol. However, DMK leader Saravanan Annadurai said the new change is not illegal. He clarified that this is not a clash, we give importance to Tamil and that is why the government is going ahead with such a change.

Meanwhile, the BJP has come forward against the DMK government's new move. The party's state spokesperson Narayanan Tirupathi alleged that the change in the symbol is different from India and is an attempt to hide their failures. Tamil Nadu BJP state president K Annamalai mocked the government's new move as foolish. The rupee symbol was designed by the son of a former DMK MLA, blamed Annamalai.