Rupee symbol row: Tamil Nadu govt replaces ₹ with Tamil letter in Budget amid language debate

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Adding fuel to the ongoing language debate in India, the Tamil Nadu government has replaced the official Indian rupee symbol ‘₹’ with the Tamil letter ‘ரூ’ as the logo for its state budget.

This came to light ahead of CM M K Stalin unveiling the state budget and comes at a time when the use of regional languages in official communications and documentation has been a point of contention, with DMK calling out the imposition of Hindi over local languages.

India has 22 official languages and Tamil is one of them but as a standard practice, the INR currency has only one symbol, which is inspired from the Devanagari letter र (read as Ra) and Roman letter ‘R’. Stalin, who will be presenting the state budget for FY26 on March 14, posted a video on his X handle, which showed the logo of the document that read “Tamil Nadu Budget 2025-26. Everything for everyone.” This also had the letter ரூ (read as ‘Ru’) instead of the standard rupee symbol, contrary to the state’s 2024 logo and rather unusual move.

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BJP leader K Annamalai called out M K Stalin’s move, and termed him ‘stupid’. “The DMK Government’s State Budget for 2025-26 replaces the Rupee Symbol designed by a Tamilian, which was adopted by the whole of Bharat and incorporated into our Currency. Thiru Udhay Kumar, who designed the symbol, is the son of a former DMK MLA. How stupid can you become, Thiru @mkstalin?”On Wednesday, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin launched a fierce critique of the central government’s National Education Policy (NEP), describing it as a “saffronized policy” designed to prioritize Hindi over the educational needs of Tamil Nadu. Stalin’s comments reflect concerns that the NEP could undermine the state’s education system by promoting a centralized language agenda. In contrast, the central government, represented by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, contends that the NEP is intended to foster multilingualism and flexibility in language education, allowing states the autonomy to choose their own linguistic preferences. Pradhan has vigorously denied any claims of Hindi imposition, emphasizing that the policy respects regional languages.The tension escalated earlier this week when Pradhan challenged the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party on the three-language policy associated with the NEP. He suggested that Stalin’s focus on the language issue is merely a diversion from more pressing matters facing the state.