Amidst an ongoing language debate, the DMK government in Tamil Nadu on Thursday released the logo for its budget for the year 2025-26, which replaced the traditional Indian rupee symbol with the Tamil letter 'ரூ'. The decision comes at a time when the issue of language dominance and cultural identity is being hotly debated in the state.

This change has sparked reactions, with some seeing it as a step towards promoting Tamil as an official language, while others view it as a controversial move.

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TN Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu is scheduled to table the budget on Friday.

The logo carried 'ru,' the first letter of the Tamil word 'Rubaai', which denoted the Indian currency in the vernacular language.

The logo also had the caption "everything for all," indicating what the ruling DMK claims is its inclusive model of governance.

The move was slammed by BJP TN chief K Annamalai.

"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 social media post.

He also shared the logo of the 2024-25 TN budget that had the Indian rupee symbol.

The development comes amidst the language row between the Centre and Tamil Nadu, with the latter alleging Hindi imposition by the Union government, a charge denied by the latter.

PTI inputs