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 budget logo now features the Tamil letter for ‘ரூ [Ru]’ from ‘rubai,’ replacing the Indian currency symbol used in the previous budget.
The logo also had the caption “everything for all,” indicating at what the ruling DMK says is its inclusive model of governance.
There has, however, been no official statement from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) on the party’s decision to replace ‘Rs’ symbol with the Tamil letter ‘ru’.
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.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tamil Nadu chief K Annamalai slammed the DMK move to drop the ₹symbol and said the state government dropped the symbol which was designed by a Tamil.
“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?,” Annamalai said in a social media post.
What does NEP say about the three-language formula?
As per the NEP document, the three-language formula will “continue to be implemented while keeping in mind the Constitutional provisions, aspirations of the people, regions, and the Union, and the need to promote multilingualism as well as promote national unity.”
“There will be a greater flexibility in the three-language formula, and no language will be imposed on any State,” the education policy document said.
The policy document says that the languages in the three language policy will be based on the choices of states, regions and of the student provided two of the three languages are native to India.