Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Sunday said his government used Ru—the first letter of the Tamil word roobai for currency—and replaced the national symbol in the Tamil Nadu budget logo, only to demonstrate the state’s unwavering stance and its commitment towards the existing two-language formula.
“We used ‘Ru’ to demonstrate our commitment towards the two-language policy of Tamil Nadu. That’s all. But people who don’t like the Tamil language made it major news,” Stalin said while speaking to the people through his Ungalil Oruvan (One Amongst You) series.
Replying to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement, calling it “regional chauvinism” and “secessionist sentiments”, Stalin asked why she chose to comment on this issue while not replying to the many requests from Tamil Nadu for the release of funds to pay the wages to workers under MGNREGA, under the Samahara Siksha Abhiyan to the school education department.
“The finance minister who never spoke about my requests decided to respond on this issue. She herself has used Ru to denote rupees in Tamil several times in the past. It is very common for people to write Rs in English. But this became a huge issue. Both the Tamil Nadu budget and Tamil became a huge hit among the people across the country,” Stalin noted. The chief minister also said that the use of ‘Ru’ instead of the Devanagiri script-based national symbol, was to ensure that Tamil gets more importance.
Stating that the state budget was a welfare budget benefitting the society as a whole, he said it was prepared after deliberations and consultations with the Economic committee which included Nobel Laureate Esther Duflo and experts like Raghuram Rajan, Jean Dreaz and Arvind Subramanian. He said Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu held discussions with the committee. He also said that the budget is being celebrated by people from all walks of life.
The decision to replace the currency symbol has added yet another dimension to the state’s fight against the Centre in the language issue and Tamil Nadu’s resistance to NEP 2020.
