Tamil Nadu govt replaces rupee symbol; BJP drags Udaya Kumar's name: 'Embarrassment for MK Stalin' | 10 updates

The logo for the Tamil Nadu budget, carried ‘ru’, the first letter of Tamil word 'Rubaai', which denotes Indian currency in the vernacular language.

The tussle over the three-language formula under the NEP with the Centre intensified as the Tamil Nadu government, led by chie minister MK Stalin, on Thursday replaced the Devanagari rupee symbol with a Tamil letter in its logo for the budget 2025-26. The move comes amidst a political firestorm over the issue after the Tamil Nadu government rejected the National Education Policy with MK Stalin accusing the Centre of trying to impose Hindi in the southern state under it and claimed that the NEP was a "saffron policy" aimed at promoting and developing Hindi and not the nation.

Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin (PTI)

The DMK has asserted that Tamil Nadu would not tolerate 'Hindi colonialism' replacing British colonialism, while the Union government has accused the state government of being “dishonest” and “ruining the future of the students” in the state for politics.

Several Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, including Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, reacted strongly to the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government move. The ruling DMK stoutly defended the decision, saying there was nothing wrong in using the native language. No rule barred the dispensation from such a move, the party argued.

Here are 10 updates on the Tamil Nadu rupee symbol row:

1. The logo for the Tamil Nadu budget, released by the government on Thursday, carried ‘ru’, the first letter of the Tamil word 'Rubaai', which denotes the Indian currency in the vernacular language. Tamil Nadu finance minister Thangam Thennarasu is scheduled to table the budget on Friday. The logo also had the caption "everything for all", indicating the ruling DMK's assurance of an inclusive governance model.
2. Nirmala Sitharaman slammed the DMK and said the avoidable example of regional chauvinism "promotes secessionist sentiments". Sitharaman took strong exception to the removal of the Rupee logo and asked why the DMK didn't protest in 2010 when it was officially adopted under the then Congress-led UPA government, where the Dravidian party was a key part of the ruling alliance.
3. "Ironically, ‘ ₹’ was designed by Th. D Udaya Kumar, the son of former DMK MLA N Dharmalingam. By erasing it now, the DMK is not only rejecting a national symbol but also utterly disregarding the creative contribution of a Tamil youth," she said in a post on ‘X.’
4. Union minister Kiren Rijiju said the DMK is playing a subversive game and the Congress is doing more damage by supporting the DMK. “The Rupee ₹ symbol was designed by Udaya Kumar Dharmalingam, a Tamilian and the son of a former DMK MLA, when UPA was in power at Centre and DMK was in Govt in TN. My mother tongue is not Hindi but I respect Hindi and all Indian languages. There's no language imposition on anyone. PM Modi ji has promoted Tamil culture and Tamil language along with other Indian culture & languages what no one has ever done. There should be limit to play politics. Don't harm our nation by dividing people and states of India. We all belong to one nation," Kiren Rijiju posted on X.
5. BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya termed the move an embarrassment for MK Stalin. “More embarrassment for Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin. The ₹ symbol was designed by Udaya Kumar Dharmalingam, a Tamilian and the son of a former DMK MLA. The irony doesn’t stop there—the symbol was adopted in 2010 when the Congress was in power at the Centre and the DMK governed the state. None other than P. Chidambaram, another Tamilian and a DMK ally, felicitated Dr. Udaya Kumar for the design,” Amit Malviya posted on X while sharing a video.
6. BJP Tamil Nadu president K Annamalai strongly condemned the act of the Tamil Nadu government of replacing the Rupee symbol with the Tamil 'Ru' symbol and stated that DMK had become a laughing stock across the country and were doing this just to divert attention from other public issues. He further stated that the symbol which was designed by a Tamil, Udaya Kumar, was appreciated by CM MK Stalin's father, Kalaignar Karunanidhi.
7. The DMK has argued that the Centre wants to 'impose' the north Indian language on Tamil Nadu through the implementation of the 3-language formula in the NEP and asserted that its government in the state will not follow the 3-language formula but only stick to its decades-old 2-language policy of Tamil and English.
8. The three-language formula in NEP 2020 recommends that students learn three languages, at least two of which must be native to India. It has not specifically mentioned Hindi. This formula applies to both government and private schools, giving states the flexibility to choose languages without any imposition.
9. According to a government portal, the rupee symbol is an amalgam of Devanagari "Ra" and the Roman Capital "R" with two parallel horizontal stripes running at the top representing the national flag and also the "equal to" sign. "The Indian Rupee sign was adopted by the Government of India on 15th July, 2010," it said.
10. Meanwhile, IIT Guwahati Professor D Udaya Kumar, who had designed the Indian rupee symbol, on Thursday refused to be drawn into the controversy over language and said it is a mere coincidence that his father was a DMK MLA.