Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) K. Annamalai on Thursday slammed Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin after his government replaced the Indian rupee symbol (₹) in the official state budget logo with a Tamil letter for “Ru,” saying that the symbol was designed by a Tamilian and it was adopted by the entire country. The latest move by the Stalin government might escalate the ongoing language row in the state. In the Tamil language, Rubai means rupee, thus Ru is a substitution for the rupee.
Attacking Stalin over the decision, Annamalai said, “How stupid can you become?” “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?,” he said in a post on X.
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,… pic.twitter.com/t3ZyaVmxmq
— K.Annamalai (@annamalai_k) March 13, 2025
Tamil Nadu Finance Minister, Thangam Thennarasu, presented the state budget for 2025-26 in the Legislative Assembly on Friday, March 14. Earlier, Tamil Nadu CM MK shared on X a teaser to the state budget highlighting the ‘Dravidian Model’ and ‘TNBudget2025’ hashtags.
Stalin is leading the opposition protest on the issue and has even termed the NEP a ‘saffron policy.’ Now, the Tamil Nadu BJP president, K. Annamalai, has hit back at the ruling DMK minister while sharing a video of Google CEO Sundar Pichai, who hails from Madurai.
Tamil Nadu leaders have consistently opposed NEP, arguing that it imposes a one-size-fits-all education model that does not align with the state’s policies and linguistic heritage. The DMK government has also refused to accept the Centre’s alleged “arm-twisting” tactics of withholding funds to force the adoption of NEP-aligned schemes.