Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has hit back at Tamil Nadu’s ruling DMK over its move to replace the rupee symbol with the Tamil letter (Ru), declaring that it “promotes secessionist sentiments under the pretence of regional pride ” and is a “completely avoidable example of language and regional chauvinism”.  She also questioned why the DMK had not made its reservations known earlier. 

The state had replaced the Devnagari rupee symbol (Re) in promotional material for the state budget which will be presented Friday morning, making a point amid the blazing row over what it calls “imposition of Hindi”.

Result — since morning, the party has drawn massive political backlash from the BJP.  State BJP chief K Annamalai, pointing out that rupee symbol accepted by the nation has been drawn dram by the son of a former DMK MLA, tagged the state’s ruling party “stupid”.

In the evening, the finance minister weighed in with a lengthy post on X. Accusing the DMK of “utterly disregarding the creative contribution of a Tamil youth”, she said, “All elected representatives and authorities are sworn under the Constitution to uphold the sovereignty and integrity of our nation. 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”.

The DMK government has reportedly removed the official Rupee symbol ‘₹’ from the Tamil Nadu Budget 2025-26 documents, which will be presented tomorrow.

If 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

“If the DMK has a problem with ‘₹’, why didn’t it protest back in 2010 when it was officially adopted under the @INCIndia-led UPA government, at a time when the DMK was part of the ruling alliance at the Centre? Rupee symbol ‘₹’ is internationally well-recognized and serves as a visible identity of India in global financial transactions. At a time when India is pushing for cross-border payments using UPI, should we really be undermining our own national currency symbol?” her post read. 

The DMK has claimed that the use of ‘Ru’ only is meant to prioritise Tamil and express their love of language. 

“There is nothing illegal about it… this is not a ‘showdown’. We prioritise Tamil, that is why the government went ahead with this,” said DMK leader Saravanan Annadurai.