Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday lashed out at the DMK-led government in Tamil Nadu for replacing the rupee symbol with Tamil letter ‘Ru’ in its logo for the state budget 2025-26.
Terming it as a “dangerous mindset”, Sitharaman said such moves could promote secessionist sentiments.
Earlier in the day, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin revealed the new logo on X, stirring up a political storm. The move comes amid a raging showdown between the state and central governments over the three-language proposal included in the National Education Policy (NEP).
The Tamil Nadu government and the ruling DMK have been maintaining that the central government was trying to impose Hindi in the state.
The new logo of the budget carried ‘Ru’—the first letter of the Tamil word ‘Rubaai’ which denotes the Indian currency in the vernacular language.
In a long post on X, Sitharaman asked if the DMK had any problem with the rupee symbol (₹), why the party didn’t protest back in 2010 when the Congress-led UPA government, which the DMK was also a part of, officially adopted it.
Noting that the rupee symbol was designed by D Udaya Kumar, the son of former DMK MLA N. Dharmalingam, the finance minister alleged that the DMK was now not only rejecting a national symbol but also utterly disregarding the creative contribution of a Tamil youth.
“Moreover, 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,” she said.
The minister also noted that several countries, including Indonesia, the Maldives, Mauritius, Nepal, Seychelles, and Sri Lanka, officially use ‘Rupee’ or its ‘equivalent/derivatives’ as their currency name.
“At a time when India is pushing for cross-border payments using UPI, should we really be undermining our own national currency symbol?,” she asked.
Sitharaman further claimed that removing a national symbol like ‘₹’ from the state budget documents goes against that very oath, weakening the commitment to national unity.
“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. A completely avoidable example of language and regional chauvinism,” she said.
