Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman
Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman

Nirmala Sitharaman’s optimistic take on the plight of Indian rupees becomes a meme magnet on Twitter

Optimism is ideal when served in balanced doses. Looks like union finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman totally missed that balance with her now trending statement, “The rupee is not weakening, but the USD is strengthening.” Looks like our government has perfected the art of revealing complicated information through top-notch euphemisms. The statement which might have been intended to quell the anxiety of the public about the not-so-favorable economic situation of the country has now become what the netizens call, “the joke of the year.” Well if the aim was to quell the anxiety through laughter, then yes, the finance minister did not miss the mark. Because her statement has become the meme magnet on Twitter and everybody is having a good laugh. Read along to know more about the million dollar statement.

Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman
Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman

Getting The Facts Right

Although the statement has become a matter of joke, it must be noted that there is some truth behind what the finance minister said. In comparison to other world economies which has been competing against an incessantly strengthening dollar, India has indeed been doing well. The deluge of jokes and criticism online could even be attributed to the mere surface knowledge about the issue at hand.

“And I’m not talking technicalities, but it is a matter of fact that India’s rupee probably has withstood this dollar rate going up, the exchange rate in favor of dollar strengthening is there and I think the Indian rupee has performed much better than many other emerging market currencies,” said the finance minister in response to a question about the weakening rupee.

The USD is indeed a strong contender given its primacy in the international finance and trade, particularly the energy trade. Battling against a strong contender like the dollar does result in some scars, and going by the finance minister’s statement, the Indian Rupee is fighting along fairly well with relatively less scars. However, that hasn’t stopped Twitterati from making memes about the statement. Let us flip through a couple of responses on Twitter.

Well

Looks like the statement did not have the desired effect after all.

Talk about a walk down the memory lane.

https://twitter.com/Ms_X_YZ_/status/1581735503648673792?s=20&t=dt3dV1iC_otWCrSHaMALqw

There are people who look at the facts too.