In the MK Stalin-led government’s annual budget for Tamil Nadu in FY 2025-26, the focus could have been on any aspect, such as its promise of 8 percent annual growth in the state’s GDP; a 1 percent concession on stamp duty if the property is registered in the name of women; the rising tide of women using the free bus travel scheme, saving an average of Rs 888 per woman per month; or the Rs 2,000 stipend offered to orphaned children for their education.

However, one aspect became the national outrage – the use of the Tamil symbol for the rupee instead of the widely accepted one. This provoked the likes of the union finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, herself a Tamilian,........

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