Kerala Assembly Passes Resolution to Rename State to 'Keralam', Centre's Approval Sought

The Kerala Assembly has unanimously passed a second resolution urging the Centre to officially change the state's name from Kerala to 'Keralam'.

This follows a previous resolution passed nearly a year ago, which the Union Home Ministry reviewed and returned for technical corrections.

Photo Credit: PTI

The new resolution, proposed by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, requests that the name change be reflected in all the languages listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.

Vijayan stressed that the state has traditionally been called 'Keralam' in Malayalam and highlighted the historical demand for a united Kerala for Malayalam speakers dating back to the national freedom struggle.

"But the name of our state is written as Kerala in the First Schedule of the Constitution. This Assembly requests the Centre to take immediate steps to amend it as 'Keralam' under Article 3 of the Constitution and have it renamed as 'Keralam' in all the languages mentioned in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution," Vijayan said.

The resolution received support from both the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the opposition United Democratic Front (UDF), although an amendment suggested by UDF legislator N Shamsudeen was rejected. Following this, Speaker A N Shamseer announced the unanimous adoption of the resolution.

This move is part of a broader trend in India where several states and cities have changed their names since independence. Examples include Uttaranchal to Uttarakhand, Orissa to Odisha, and Pondicherry to Puducherry.

Capital cities like Bombay and Madras have been renamed to Mumbai and Chennai, respectively. West Bengal has also sought to change its name to Bangla to gain a more favorable position in the alphabetical listing of Indian states.