A dispute intensified between the Tamil Nadu government under Chief Minister MK Stalin and the Centre regarding the three-language formula through the National Education Policy when the Budget 2025-26 received a Tamil letter in place of the Devanagari rupee symbol in its official logo.
The Tamil Nadu government under MK Stalin has launched this move during ongoing political strife which arose after rejecting the National Education Policy and condemning attempts by the central administration to impose Hindi in southern states.
The government asserted the NEP acts as a saffron policy to advance and establish Hindi supremacy rather than serve national interests.
The DMK claims Tamil Nadu does not accept ‘Hindi colonialism’ as an exchange for British colonialism but the Union government faults the state administration for ‘dishonesty’ which harms student prospects due to political actions.
Bharatiya Janata Party members including Nirmala Sitharaman as Union finance minister displayed harsh criticism towards the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government decision.
The DMK government defended its decision without hesitation since it believed using Tamil language is permissible. According to the political party there existed no restriction keeping them from taking this step.
Summary Of the Tamil Nadu Rupee Symbol Row
The Tamil Nadu budget released its emblem on Thursday utilized ‘ru’ as the first letter from the Tamil word ‘Rubaai’ which functions as the local designation for the Indian currency.
The Tamil Nadu finance minister Thangam Thennarasu plans to present the budget on Friday. The logo contained “everything for all” text to show how the DMK leadership planned to offer equal opportunities for everyone during their governance period.
During her speech Nirmala Sitharaman criticized the DMK for performing unneeded acts of regional chauvinism leading to secessionist feelings.
Sitharaman criticized fervently the DMK’s move to remove the Rupee sign since that logo was formally adopted by the government under the then UPA administration with Congress leadership while the Dravidian party remained an important part of the coalition.
Th. D Udaya Kumar, the son of former DMK MLA N Dharmalingam, ironically designed ‘ ₹.’ The DMK demonstrates both national symbol rejection and dismissal of Tamil youth creativity through its recent decision to remove the Rupee logo according to the leader’s social media post.
Kiren Rijiju the Indian minister criticized the DMK for its covert actions and noted that the Congress Party creates more harm through its support to the DMK. Udaya Kumar Dharmalingam designed the ₹ symbol when UPA governed India while DMK had control of the Tamil Nadu government.
He is a Tamilian and a son of former DMK member of legislative assembly N Dharmalingam. My native language is not Hindi though I show respect to Hindi alongside all other Indian languages which exist in our nation.
The policy of language force does not exist for any person within our nation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has positively promoted both Tamil language and Tamil cultural expressions together with all other Indian cultural traditions which no government leader before him accomplished.
The practice of political gameplay should have an established boundary. Our nation will suffer damage if you continue to break down social unity between Indian states and their people. The Minister Kiren Rijiju declared on X that we as citizens share one united nation.
The implementation of the ₹ symbol caused BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya to label it as an embarrassment for MK Stalin. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin faces an additional misstep in his professional life. Udaya Kumar Dharmalingam who belongs to Tamil Nadu created the ₹ symbol during his tenure as the son of a former DMK MLA.
The Tamil government made this selection at a time when both the Congress ruled at the national level and the DMK was governing the state. Antony Chidambaram along with being a Tamilian and DMK ally greeted Dr. Udaya Kumar for his symbol design according to the post on X by Amit Malviya.
K Annamalai the president of BJP Tamil Nadu condemned the Tamil Nadu government’s decision to replace Russian Rupee symbols with Tamil Ru symbols.
He declared the situation had turned the DMK into a national laughing stock because they wanted public attention away from existing issues. DMK president Kalaignar Karunanidhi praised the symbol which Udaya Kumar designed as approved by CM MK Stalin’s father.
Through its implementation of the 3-language formula in NEP the central government wants to force northern Indian languages upon Tamil Nadu according to the DMK party which also affirms that its state governance will preserve the long-established policy of using Tamil and English.
The NEP 2020 three-language formula demands students to study three languages where one must be an Indian native language. The policy does not provide any explicit reference to Hindi. Nations have the freedom to pick their languages according to the pattern under the national education policy because this standard operates for public as well as private educational institutions.
The rupee symbol combines Devanagari Ra and Roman Capital R which features double parallel horizontal bars running along its top for the national flag while representing the “equal to” symbol. The Government of India officially adopted the Indian Rupee sign on 15th July, 2010 according to the statement.
The Indian Rupee Symbol designer IIT Guwahati Professor D Udaya Kumar stated on Thursday that language-related controversies did not interest him since his father happened to serve as a DMK Legislative Assembly Member by coincidence.
Who is D Udaya Kumar? The Man Who Designed The Rupee Symbol
Despite his prestigious role as IIT Guwahati professor D Udaya Kumar spent his time developing the Indian rupee symbol during the Manmohan Singh administration in 2010. N Dharmalingam served as a DMK MLA and fathered the son named D Udaya Kumar.
Among 3,000 national submissions his winning design brought him an award of Rs 2.5 lakh. The rupee symbol connects Indian and Roman script elements through its Ra Devanagri letter and capital R letter to signify rupaiah money. The symbol displays two equal-sized horizontal lines at its top which represent both the Indian flag and the mathematical equality sign.
The official adoption of the rupee symbol took place on July 15, 2010 according to the Centre.
The website of Mr Kumar indicates he received his Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture and Master’s Degree in Design (visual communication) after graduating. His education leads to a PhD in design when he finished at the Industrial Design Centre of IIT Bombay.
Past work experience of the rupee symbol designer involved serving first as a senior designer and later as a design head within the monthly publication Intelligent Computing CHIP.
The researcher Mr Kumar studies visual communication design and architecture and conducts design research specifically about Tamil typography.
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