Irony of TN politics: The DMK connection to the rupee logo, dropped by Stalin govt amid language row

MK Stalin shared a teaser of the state budget which will be presented on March 14

The Tamil Nadu government on Thursday has replaced the Indian rupee symbol “₹” with the Tamil letter “ரூ” as the logo for its state budget. The logo, which read “Ellorkkum Ellaam” (Everything for Everyone), was released by the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin’s office.

This move comes amid the three-language policy war between the MK Stalin-led DMK government in Tamil Nadu and the Centre. This marks the first time a state has rejected the national currency symbol.

Tamil Nadu, which follows the two-language policy (Tamil and English), has opposed the three-language policy.  According to the Stalin government, it is an imposition of Hindi on the Tamil public. Tamil Nadu has also opposed the National Education Policy, which prescribes the three-language policy.

When was the '₹' symbol adopted?

The ₹ symbol, which was officially adopted in 2010, represents the Indian Rupee (INR). It is a combination of the Devanagari letter "Ra" and the Roman capital letter "R" with two parallel horizontal lines at the top representing India's tricolor and the equality sign. However, there is no vertical bar in the logo. The parallel lines at the top are said to represent the Indian tricolor flag and depict an equality sign symbolising the nation's desire to reduce economic disparity.

During the 2010 Union Budget, then Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced the intention to introduce a symbol that would reflect and capture the Indian ethos and culture.

Who designed the ‘₹’ symbol?

Dharmalingam Udaya Kumar, who was born in Chennai on October 10, 1978, designed the ‘₹’ symbol. Kumar, who originally hails from Thanjavur, is an IIT Mumbai post-graduate. He was a day away from starting his new job in the design department at IIT Guwahati when he came to know that he had won a national contest to design the symbol for the rupee that was selected from among hundreds of entries.

What is DMK’s connection with ‘₹’ symbol?

Udyaya Kumar is also the son of a former DMK MLA. This fact has given the BJP an opportunity to launch a scathing attack on the DMK and Stalin. Speaking to CNN-News18, Tamil Nadu BJP Chief Annamalai called Stalin’s move “stupid”. "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 wrote on X.

BJP leader Amit Malviya also slammed the move. “Udaya Kumar Dharmalingam is an Indian academic and designer, son of a former DMK MLA, who designed the Indian rupee (₹) sign, which was accepted by Bharat. Chief Minister MK Stalin is insulting Tamilians by dropping the ₹ sign from the Tamil Nadu Budget 2025-26 document. Just how ridiculous can one get,” he wrote on X.

What does DMK say?

DMK leader Saravanan Annadurai said the state government’s move is “not a showdown”. “There is nothing illegal about it. We will prioritise Tamil, that is why the government went ahead with this,” he told CNN-News18.

According to the state government, the logo change is only on the state budget paper and not on currency.

Sharing a teaser of the state budget, which will be presented on March 14 in the state assembly, MK Stalin wrote a post on X, saying: “To ensure the widespread development of Tamil Nadu to benefit all sections of society..."