Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin on Friday said Hindi cannot be thrust upon the state so long as Chief Minister M K Stalin continues at the helm.
Commending the chief minister's defence of the dual-language policy, he said the CM replaced the rupee symbol with Tamil 'Ru' in the state Budget (presented on March 14) much to the chagrin of those who wanted to impose the three-language policy.
"Usually, before commencing to write, some people affix the Tamil letter 'U' and put two lines below it. But our chief minister started the Budget with one Ru and startled them. No matter how many rules the fascists impose to subdue us, Hindi and any other policy cannot be forced on us so long as our leader continues at the helm," Udhayanidhi, who is Stalin's son, told the Assembly.
Just as Udhayanidhi was about to commence his speech, the opposition AIADMK members created a commotion over an issue that Speaker M Appavu declined for a discussion in the House. Following this, the AIADMK legislators were evicted en masse and barred from attending the rest of the session for today.
Making a slew of announcements, Udhayanidhi said following the success of the 'Vazhndhu Kattuvom' project, the government would launch the 3.0 of this World Bank-assisted initiative to transform rural areas in the state, at an estimated cost of ₹1,000 crore.
Skill training for 42,000 rural youth at a cost of ₹66 crores, conducting food festivals, establishing 2,500 new community skill training schools for ₹25 crore to train rural youth, and providing a revolving fund of ₹22.50 crore to 15,000 self-help groups (SHGs) were among the other announcements.
{{/usCountry}}Skill training for 42,000 rural youth at a cost of ₹66 crores, conducting food festivals, establishing 2,500 new community skill training schools for ₹25 crore to train rural youth, and providing a revolving fund of ₹22.50 crore to 15,000 self-help groups (SHGs) were among the other announcements.
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