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Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday lashed out at the Tamil Nadu government’s move to replace the rupee (₹) symbol with a Tamil letter in the state budget logo.
Sharing on X (formerly Twitter), Sitharaman asked why the ruling DMK did not protest the rupee symbol when it was formally adopted back in 2010 under the Congress-led UPA government, during which time the DMK was an ally.
“If the DMK (@arivalayam) is objecting to ‘₹’, why did it not protest when it was formally adopted in 2010 by the @INCIndia-led UPA government, when the DMK was an ally of the Centre? Ironically, ‘₹’ was created by Th. D Udaya Kumar, son of former DMK MLA N. Dharmalingam.” By eliminating it today, the DMK is not merely turning down a national symbol, but also totally ignoring the innovative input of a Tamil youth,” she tweeted.
The DMK government has reportedly removed the official Rupee symbol ‘₹’ from the Tamil Nadu Budget 2025-26 documents, which will be presented tomorrow.
Advertisement · Scroll to continueIf the DMK (@arivalayam) has a problem with ‘₹’, why didn’t it protest back in 2010 when it was officially adopted under the…
— Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) March 13, 2025
Tamil Nadu’s budget logo change
The Tamil Nadu government substituted the rupee symbol in its logo for the 2025-26 budget, to be tabled in the Assembly on Friday.
The new logo includes ‘Ru,’ the initial letter of the Tamil word ‘Rubaai,’ denoting rupee in the Tamil language.
Sitharaman criticized the elimination of rupee sign
Sitharaman criticized that the elimination of the rupee sign from state budget papers violates the constitutional affirmation by elected members of responsibility to defend the country’s sovereignty and integrity.
“Every elected representative and officials take an oath under the Constitution to safeguard the sovereignty and integrity of our nation. Deleting a national symbol such as ‘₹’ from the State Budget papers violates that very affirmation, diluting the pledge for national integration,” she said.
She also charged the DMK with instilling regionalism at the expense of national identity. “This is more than symbolism—it heralds a dangerous mentality that dilutes Indian cohesion and fosters secessionist feelings in the guise of regional pride. A totally unnecessary example of language and regional chauvinism,” she said.
This follows ongoing Centre-Tamil Nadu tensions on language policies. The DMK and other state parties have criticized the Union government for trying to impose Hindi using the three-language formula of the National Education Policy.
Tamil Nadu has restated its stand on the two-language policy, promoting Tamil and English and refusing to include Hindi.
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