Puducherry chief minister N Rangasamy on Tuesday said that the government would issue circulars to all shops and establishments in the Union territory, directing them to display their names in Tamil.
Responding to a plea by Independent member G Nehru alias Kuppusamy, who raised the issue during zero hour in the assembly, Rangasamy said, “Strict instructions will be issued through the circular, ensuring shop owners display Tamil versions of their establishment names on signboards.”
Nehru stressed that there should be no leniency in the matter and urged the government to issue circulars with strict directions to honour the Tamil language.
The chief minister said that the government has also decided that all invitations for its departmental events should include a Tamil version. “This is out of love and respect for the Tamil language,” Rangasamy added.
The directive by the leader of All India NR Congress (AINRC), an ally of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), comes amid a raging controversy over neighbouring state Tamil Nadu’s refusal to adopt the three-language formula proposed in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which the DMK government views as the Centre’s way of imposing Hindi.
The issue rocked the Tamil Nadu assembly session last week after chief minister MK Stalin replaced the rupee symbol ( ₹) with Tamil alphabet (Ru) for the logo of the state budget 2025-26. Later, on Sunday, he defended his government’s decision saying the move was to demonstrate the state’s commitment towards the two-language policy.
{{/usCountry}}The issue rocked the Tamil Nadu assembly session last week after chief minister MK Stalin replaced the rupee symbol ( ₹) with Tamil alphabet (Ru) for the logo of the state budget 2025-26. Later, on Sunday, he defended his government’s decision saying the move was to demonstrate the state’s commitment towards the two-language policy.
{{/usCountry}}“I released the budget logo. We had the “Ru” to show how determined we are in the language policy. But those who don’t like Tamil made it a big news,” Stalin had said.
Puducherry BJP’s senior leader and home minister A Namassivayam told HT that their party supports the move. “BJP has no issues with this. The DMK is twisting everything and distorting facts. There is no Hindi imposition. BJP gives importance to mother tongues. The CM’s announcement to give prominence to Tamil is in alignment with that,” he said.