TN govt replaces rupee symbol with Tamil alphabet in state budget logo

Chennai: The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government on Thursday released a video ahead of the state budget for 2025-26, set to be presented on March 14, in which the rupee symbol ( ₹) was replaced with a Tamil alphabet, triggering a political furore.

This comes a day after Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin led a state-wide protest against the Union government amid an uproar over the National Education Policy (NEP).

In the 24-second video released on Thursday,the Devangiri rupee symbol was replaced with a Tamil alphabet (which translates to “Ru”) with a tagline ‘Ellorkkum Ellaam’ (everything for everyone). “This budget is for all sections of the society,” Stalin posted on X with the video.

Tamil Nadu views the three-language formula, a key aspect of NEP, as a “proxy for Hindi imposition”, Stalin said at a public rally on Wednesday, accusing the Centre of withholding funds to the state for opposing implementation of certain central schemes, including NEP. The state wants the two-language police of English and Tamil, a practice since 1968, to continue.

The BJP was quick to question and condemn the move.

“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?” BJP’s state president K Annamalai wrote on X.

The Union finance ministry had adopted the rupee symbol designed by Tamilian academician Dharmalingam Udaya Kumar in mid-2010.

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Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) IT-wing head Amit Malviya accused Stalin of insulting the Tamilians by dropping the ₹ sign from the Tamil Nadu Budget 2025-26 document. “Just how ridiculous can one get?” Malviya asked.

A DMK leader said , requesting anonymity, said, “The chief minister’s action is to only show that Tamil is one of the 15 official languages in the country. This is our way of expressing our connection to our mother tongue. It is not against the Constitution,.”

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This will be the DMK’s last full fledged budget before the state goes for assembly elections in 2026. The language issue besides Tamil Nadu’s opposition to the delimitation exercise based on population has become the primary planks on which Stalin vows to fight for the rights of not just Tamil Nadu but for all southern states.