Amidst growing allegations of Hindi being imposed over Tamil Nadu and stories claiming that the BJP was trying to appropriate the identity of Tamil poet-saint Thiruvalluvar, some passengers of the Tnstc buses plying in Vellore, Villupuram, Puducherry, Tiruvannamalai noted that the Thirukural couplets - a given adornment on the TNSTC buses for over four decades - have been removed.

It may be noted that the practice of pasting Thirukkural couplets on the buses dates back to a law passed by the Anna Durai government in 1960s.

There were claims that the Thirukkural stickers were removed from the older buses, which have been on the road for nearly a decade, during maintenance work. Discounting the fact that the same buses were maintained all these years without loss of stickers, the passengers say that there were newer buses in which the stickers have been removed. Reportedly, the new low-cost A/C buses launched between Villupuram and Puducherry also lack these couplets In the meanwhile, the officials of all state departments seem to be deeply embedded in the policy of denial.

According to the New Indian Express, R Muthukrishnan, Managing Director of the district TNSTC claimed that Thirukkural couplets were still displayed in all buses and pointed out that there were no complaints made in this regard. Memorably, there was a hue and cry in the same area a year ago after the milestones on the highways got fresh paint, with the English name-boards being converted into Hindi. Vandals had scratched out the freshly painted Hindi script on the milestones, leaving only the Tamil script visible.