New Delhi: The Union finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman has criticised the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led government for the use of the Tamil symbol for the rupee, instead of the official, Devanagari-inspired ‘₹’, in the state budget which has been presented today. But Sitharaman herself has used the Tamil symbol for rupee multiple times, as have many BJP-ruled states.
The decision to use the rupee symbol in Tamil is being viewed as a strong symbolic assertion in view of the state’s tough stand against the National Education Policy (NEP) and the three-language policy.
Sitharaman has gone so far as to say that it is a violation of the oath on the constitution. “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,” she has said.
Alt News’ Mohammad Zubair has put out instances of when Sitharaman, while Union minister in the Modi government in 2017, has used the symbol at least four times.
But why ma’am why. pic.twitter.com/Xfh8yk9Nxb
— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) March 13, 2025
When controversial BJP chief in Tamil Nadu, K. Annamalai took on the DMK government, then too, fact-checker Zubair pointed out to when he had used the symbol in the course of his communication.
Thiru @annamalai_k Why use ‘ரூ’ symbol in your tweets instead of ₹ rupee symbol sir? https://t.co/Fxls2yytjz pic.twitter.com/UXrUsz7fxW
— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) March 13, 2025
Interestingly, in the Odisha BJP chief minister, Mohan Charan Majhi’s budget speech, the official symbol for the rupee has not been seen.
A screengrab of the Odisha CM’s budget speech in 2025. The speech text uses the Odia for ‘rupee’ instead of the official symbol.
Even in the English version, the ‘official’ symbol has not been used.
A screengrab of the Odisha CM’s budget speech in 2025. The speech text uses ‘Rs’ instead of the official symbol.
The state of Assam has also not used it in the 2024-25 and 2025-26 budget speech of the state’s finance minister.
A screengrab of the Assam finance minister’s 2024-25 budget speech in February 2024. The speech text uses ‘Rs’ instead of the official symbol.
A screengrab of the Assam finance minister’s 2025-26 budget speech in March 2025. The speech text uses ‘Rs’ instead of the official symbol.
BJP-ruled Tripura is yet to see the budget out for this year. Last year, the symbol was not used.
A screengrab of the Tripura finance minister’s budget speech for 2024-2025. The speech text uses ‘Rs’ instead of the official symbole.
It is not clear if the Union finance minister sees the non-use of the rupee symbol in the case of her own party’s government as something that “goes against that very oath, weakening the commitment to national unity.”
The Left-ruled Kerala state is also not using the official rupee symbol in its budget.
While trying to take issue with Tamil Nadu chief minister’s stance, Sitharaman had gone as far as to say, “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 BJP, with education minister Dharmendra Pradhan insisting on the ‘three-language formula’, misleadingly terming it “constitutional” has stirred a hornet’s nest in the state and the wider region. It has stoked fears about BJP’s long-term agenda to push Hindi and along with it, the BJP’s unitary agenda of Hindutva and Hindi. Pushing both across India’s diverse states is being seen as compromising both, the hard-earned rights of states in India’s federal structure and of cultural expression and identity for people outside the Hindi belt.
The inability of the BJP’s top leadership to give assurances that delimitation scheduled for after 2026 will not result in a domination of northern and western India and the diminishing of influence of other states has added to that anxiety.
