Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Annamalai has hit out at the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government in the state for dropping the ‘Rs’ symbol in the state budget and replacing it with Tamil letter ‘ru’.
In a post on X, Annamalai criticised the Tamil Nadu government for disregarding the rupee symbol, which was “designed by a Tamilian.”
Annamalai said, “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?”
Tamil Nadu replaces ‘Rs’ with Tamil letter ‘ru’ in state budget
MK Stalin-led Tamil Nadu government has replaced the official rupee ‘ ₹’ symbol in the 2025 state budget in a significant step amid the ongoing language dispute with the Centre.
The new Tamil Nadu budget logo now features the Tamil letter for ‘ரூ [Ru]’ from ‘rubai [which translates to rupee],’ replacing the Indian currency symbol used in the previous budget. The budget logo also features the caption “everything for all.”
The move is being seen as a statement from the Tamil Nadu government which has clashed with the Centre over the three-language formula in the National Education Policy (NEP), accusing it of imposing Hindi on the state.
The Tamil Nadu government has refused to implement the three-language policy of the NEP, accusing the Centre of making a backdoor attempt to impose Hindi on the state.
The Hindi imposition row flared up when Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said he would withhold ₹2,400 crore funds meant for Tamil Nadu under the Samagra Shiksha scheme if the state doesn’t fully implement the NEP.
The DMK has said that it will continue with the state’s two-language policy.
