Ahead of its tabling on March 14, the Tamil Nadu government has replaced the Indian rupee symbol ‘₹’ with the Tamil letter ‘ரூ’ (pronounced as Ru) in the official logo of its 2025-26 state budget.The decision, made under the leadership of Chief Minister MK Stalin, comes amid the ongoing debate over language policies and the state’s opposition to the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.It is customary to mention ‘ரூபாய்’ (Rupee in Tamil) or ரூ (Ru) in the Tamil version of budget speeches and related documents. This year’s Economic Survey highlights this practice by prefixing monetary figures with ரூ in the Tamil version. However, the English version of the Economic Survey still retains the ₹ symbol while mentioning figures. Other budget documents are yet to be made available.While the Tamil Nadu government has yet to issue an official statement on the matter, the BJP intensified its attack on the DMK government.BJP spokesperson Narayanan Thirupathy told NDTV that the move reflects the Tamil party’s stance of being “different from India,” adding that the rupee symbol is widely recognized as a national emblem.Meanwhile, DMK leader Saravanan Annadurai told a news outlet, “There is nothing illegal about it… this is not a ‘showdown’. We prioritize Tamil… that is why the government went ahead with this.”Reacting to the controversy, Tamil Nadu BJP president Annamalai took to X, criticisng the move. In his post, he wrote, “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 M.K. Stalin?”
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