Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said that the Tamil Nadu government’s move to replace the rupee symbol (₹) with Tamil letters in the logo for the 2025-’26 state Budget weakened national unity.

“All elected representatives and authorities are sworn under the Constitution to uphold the sovereignty and integrity of our nation,” Sitharaman said in a post on X. “Removing a national symbol like ‘₹’ from the State Budget documents goes against that very oath.”

She said the move signals a dangerous mindset and “promotes secessionist sentiments under the pretence of regional pride”.

The rupee symbol was designed by Udhay Kumar, a Tamil Nadu-based academic and son of former Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MLA N Dharmalingam, and was officially adopted by the Indian government in 2010. Pointing this out, Sitharaman accused the DMK of “not only rejecting a national symbol but also completely ignoring the creation of a Tamil Nadu youth”.

The finance minister also said that the rupee symbol is internationally recognised 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?” she questioned.

The Tamil Nadu government replaced the rupee symbol (₹) with the Tamil letters that form the sound “ru” – from “rupai” (rupees in Tamil) – in the logo for the 2025-’26 state Budget.

The new logo, which reads “Ellorkkum Ellaam” (Everything for Everyone), was released by Chief Minister MK Stalin’s office on Thursday afternoon ahead of Friday’s Budget presentation in the Assembly.

The development came amid Tamil Nadu’s continued opposition to the three-language formula in the National Education Policy. The three-language formula refers to teaching students English, Hindi and the native language of a state. It was introduced in the first National Education Policy in 1968 and was retained in the new policy introduced in 2020.

Last year’s state Budget logo had featured the Indian rupee symbol, which combines elements of the Devanagari letter “र” and the Latin capital letter “R”.

Speaking about the development, Tamil Nadu Planning Commission Executive Vice Chairman J Jeyaranjan told ANI: “We don't want to use the Devanagri. That's all.”