'A Tamilian designed it, Bharat adopted it': Annamalai blasts Stalin for dropping ₹ symbol in budget

Tamil Nadu BJP President K Annamalai on Thursday hit out at Chief Minister MK Stalin for excluding the official rupee symbol from the Tamil Nadu 2025-26 state budget logo. Annamalai, who is known for his fiery remarks, took to social media, calling the move “stupid” and questioning Stalin's decision.

“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, Stalin?” Annamalai said on X.

BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya also weighed in on the issue, accusing Stalin of insulting Tamilians. “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," Malviya said. "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?”

This controversy erupted after Stalin’s government removed the official rupee symbol, replacing it with a Tamil letter symbol for ‘ru’ from ‘rubai’, a Tamil word for rupees. The decision has sparked criticism from several quarters, especially as it marks the first time a state has rejected the national currency symbol.

The decision to omit the rupee symbol comes in the context of a growing language and cultural debate in Tamil Nadu, where the government has been resistant to the National Education Policy (NEP) and the three-language formula proposed by the central government. Stalin’s budget teaser on X prominently displayed the Tamil symbol but lacked the official rupee sign, which had been used in the past two budgets, including the 2023-24 budget.

In response to the backlash, DMK spokesperson A Saravanan clarified that the decision was not a rejection of the national rupee symbol but an attempt to promote the Tamil language, using the letter ‘ru’ to represent ‘rupees’.

The rupee symbol, designed by Udaya Kumar Dharmalingam, an IIT-Guwahati professor, was officially adopted by India in 2010. His design, which integrates the letter ‘R’ from the Hindi alphabet, has become a symbol of India's global economic identity.