The rupee’s plunge to its lifetime low has prompted X users to remind Prime Minister Narendra Modi and celebrities of their comments mocking the Manmohan Singh government on the Indian currency’s depreciation before 2014.
In speeches and tweets, Modi, the then Gujarat chief minister, had taken the Centre to task over the exchange rate between the rupee and the US dollar increasing in favour of the American currency.
In a 2013 tweet, Modi had said: “There is a comp between Congress and the rupee. Who will fall lower, that is the competition.”
When Modi took office in 2014, the rate was ₹58.58 to a dollar. It was ₹86.17 on Friday evening.
Trinamool state general secretary Nilanjan Das posted a montage of Modi’s speeches poking fun at former Prime Minister Singh’s currency management, and wrote: “Indian currency has fallen to an all-time low of 85.5 against the US dollar. @narendramodi sees a deep political failure behind the fall of the rupee.”
In 2013, when the dollar had crossed ₹60, actress Juhi Chawla had tweeted: “Thank God, my underwear is named ‘Dollar’. If it was ‘Rupee’it would keep falling.”
X user Simran Waliya remarked: “Rupee is at an all-time low at 85/-... When it was at 60/-, @iam_juhi was very worried.”
Cartoons and memes of the falling rupee filled X. One graph showed the depreciation of the rupee juxtaposed with Modi’s yoga asanas.
Congress MP and communications head Jairam Ramesh posted on X: “While the non-biological PM is rediscovering that he is a human after all, foreign investors in our stock markets have ushered in 2025 by taking out $2 billion just in the past six days.
“This shows: 1. The growing impact of our weak macro fundamentals — stagnant wages, faltering private investment, slowdown in consumption growth 2. Complete lack of investor confidence in India’s financial markets, after disclosures about the Sebi chairperson’s conflicts of interests 3. India’s continuing decline as a destination for foreign investment — direct or indirect — compared to other countries, including Vietnam and Malaysia 4. The rupee hitting new lows against the dollar day after day which increases currency risks.”
The CPM, too, shared a cartoon showing Modi rolling down with a ₹1 coin.
Several users sarcastically shared author Chetan Bhagat and preacher Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s decade-old tweets on the rupee.
Bhagat had cracked a distasteful joke on the falling rupee in 2013. He had also tweeted: “Rupee at 60. It is mayhem. Close to an economic crisis. But well, the government is silent.”
When Modi came to power, Ravi Shankar had tweeted: “It is refreshing to know that the rupee will get stronger at Rs 40/- per dollar if Modi comes to power.”
Author Ravi Nair shared the post and asked: “Double Sri @Gurudev, what is the value of the Indian rupee against the US dollar today? How much ‘refreshed’ are you feeling nowadays?”