"Tamil Nadu Drops Rupee Symbol in State Budget Amid Growing Tensions with Centre"
The symbol swap comes as the state preps for an election early next year, a poll battle that will be a fierce (and certainly all-out) fight between the DMK and AIADMK, with the BJP - which has never managed a political foothold in Tamil Nadu - lurking in the background.
It also comes amid allegations by the BJP that the DMK has done nothing to promote Tamil.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recently (and tacitly) referred to Dravidian icon EV Periyar and his comment about Tamil being a "barbaric language", and questioned the DMK for following his ideals and also claiming itself a champion of the language.
The BJP, unsurprisingly, has a sharply different perspective.
The party's state unit spokesperson Narayanan Thirupathy told NDTV the move amounted to the DMK saying it is "different from India", and accused it of trying to divert attention from failures. The BJP's state unit boss, K Annamalai, who is spearheading a door-to-door campaign in the state to drum up support for the three-language formula, slammed the Chief Minister as "stupid".
In an X post of his own Mr Annamalai pointed out the Re symbol (adopted by the country in July 2010) had been designed by the son of a former DMK MLA. "How stupid can you become?"Another senior Tamil BJP leader - ex-Governor Tamilisai Soundarajan - also ripped into the DMK, alleging the swap "is against the Constitution" and accusing the DMK of "working against the national interest".
"They should focus on basic issues rather than changing alphabets." She also challenged Mr Stalin to change his name to a Tamil alternative.
The symbol swap comes as the state preps for an election early next year, a poll battle that will be a fierce (and certainly all-out) fight between the DMK and AIADMK, with the BJP - which has never managed a political foothold in Tamil Nadu - lurking in the background. It also comes amid allegations by the BJP that the DMK has done nothing to promote Tamil.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recently (and tacitly) referred to Dravidian icon EV Periyar and his comment about Tamil being a "barbaric language", and questioned the DMK for following his ideals and also claiming itself a champion of the language.