CHENNAI: Opening a new front in the battle of languages, the Stalin govt in Tamil Nadu unveiled Thursday a logo for the state budget to be presented Friday, using the Tamil letter “roo” — which signifies “roobai”, Tamil for rupee — to replace the rupee symbol (₹).
Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and TN BJP chief K Annamalai criticised the CM, saying the ‘₹’ symbol, designed by D Udhayakumar, son of former DMK MLA N Dharmalingam, was endorsed by M Karunanidhi, and Stalin was being “stupid”.
State planning commission vice-chairman J Jeyaranjan said the rupee symbol was in Devanagari script and it was decided to drop it and use the Tamil letter “roo”. Sharing an old picture of former CM M Karunanidhi appreciating Udhayakumar for the design, Annamalai said on X, “What father endorsed, son rejects.”
‘Promotes Secessionism’
Sitharaman posted on X: “If the DMK has a problem with ‘’, why didn’t it protest back in 2010 when it was officially adopted under the Congress-led UPA govt, at a time when DMK was part of the ruling alliance at the Centre?” DMK MLA and state planning commission member N Ezhilan countered: “BJP is playing a double game. For a long time they claimed to be giving importance to the mother tongue, and now, when our CM has used ‘roo’ in Tamil for rupee, they are opposing it.”
Tamil word ‘rupaai’ has deep roots in Sanskrit word ‘rupya’: Sitharaman
Calling it an “example of language and regional chauvinism”, Nirmala Sitharaman said, “This is more than mere symbolism. It signals a dangerous mindset that weakens Indian unity and promotes secessionist sentiments under the pretence of regional pride.”
Udhayakumar, a professor at IIT Guwahati’s design department who designed the official rupee symbol, such a debate was unnecessary. “I used the Devanagari script as the base to design the rupee symbol. It was a competition back then, and I had to stick to the rules of the competition. Devanagari is a script that is used not just by the Hindi language but also by Sanskrit and some minor languages. So, restricting the debate to Tamil vs Hindi in this issue is unnecessary, I think,” Udhayakumar said.
Former Telangana governor Tamilisai Soundararajan joined the chorus. “Let Stalin change his name to a Tamil name. To hide all the failures of his govt, this drama continues… DMK always talks of separatism and with an anti-national mindset, they are against national integrity,” she said. Sitharaman said the Tamil word “rupaai” has links to Sanskrit.
“The Tamil word rupaai itself has deep roots in the Sanskrit word ‘rupya’, meaning ‘wrought silver’ or ‘a worked silver coin’. This term has resonated across centuries in Tamil trade and literature, and even today ‘rupaai’ remains the currency name in Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka.”
Saying the rupee symbol is internationally well-recognised and serves as a visible identity of India in global financial transactions, Sitharaman asked, “At a time when India is pushing for cross-border payments using UPI, should we really be undermining our own national currency symbol?” Sitharaman added that removing “a national symbol like the rupee from the state budget document goes against that very oath that all elected representatives and authorities take under the Constitution — to uphold the sovereignty and integrity of our nation”.
Guarded Cong stays mum on Tamil Nadu rupee row
Congress steered clear of the controversy triggered by Tamil Nadu’s decision to replace the symbol of rupee which is in Hindi with Tamil letter for “Ru” in the official logo for the state’s budget. Congress kept mum on the issue that played non-stop on television channels on Thursday.
Though allies, Congress has chosen to strike a balance between its political partnership and prudence, as DMK has taken a lead in triggering debates around its core issues. Congress has not spoken yet on the three language controversy that DMK has espoused in recent weeks with a strong attack on the Modi govt and BJP.
DKS to attend meet called by Stalin
Karnataka deputy CM D K Shivakumar was nominated on Thursday to represent the state in a March 22 meeting convened by Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin in Chennai to firm up a joint strategy against the Union govt’s proposal for population-based delimitation.
Shivakumar was picked despite him advocating a nuanced approach to Stalin’s invitation, suggesting he differed with CM Siddaramaiah, who backed the campaign immediately after meeting a TN delegation in Bengaluru. Sources said although Stalin wanted Siddaramaiah to attend the meeting, the latter chose to depute Shivakumar because of a knee injury and some prior commitments.
Will go for Chennai meet: Revanth
Telangana CM A Revanth Reddy on Thursday termed the proposed population-based delimitation of constituencies an imposed “limitation for southern states” that the region would counter through concerted action, starting with TN counterpart MK Stalin’s March 22 strategy meeting in Chennai.
Revanth, who along with Stalin has been among the more vocal opponents of the Union govt’s plan, confirmed he would attend the Chennai conclave. “BJP does not have much representation from the southern states and hence wants to take revenge on these states after its (electoral) defeats in south India,” he said.
