The Kerala Legislative Assembly on Monday unanimously passed a second resolution urging the central government to officially change the state’s name to ‘Keralam’. This decision comes nearly a year after the assembly first passed a similar resolution, which was subsequently returned by the Centre for corrections. The newly passed resolution will now be sent back to the Union government for approval.
Last August, the Union Home Ministry reviewed the Kerala government’s initial resolution and recommended technical modifications after it was requested to take immediate steps to change the state’s name. The resolution, proposed by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, sought the union government to change Kerala’s name in all the languages listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.
While presenting the resolution, the Chief Minister highlighted that the state is referred to as ‘Keralam’ in Malayalam, emphasizing the strong demand for a united Kerala for Malayali speakers since the Indian independence movement. He stated that although the state’s name is currently written as ‘Kerala’ in the First Schedule of the Constitution, the assembly requests the Centre to amend it to ‘Keralam’ under Article 3 of the Constitution. This amendment, if approved, would ensure the state’s name is officially changed to ‘Keralam’ in all languages listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.
Members from both the ruling LDF and the opposition UDF supported the resolution. While UDF legislator N Shamsudeen proposed some amendments, these were declined by the government. Consequently, Speaker A N Shamseer declared the unanimous adoption of the resolution by the assembly.
The question of whether a state’s name can be changed has been addressed throughout India’s history. Since independence in 1947, over a hundred Indian cities and several states have undergone name changes.
