New Delhi : The Union Cabinet approved the renaming of Kerala to Keralam, clearing a long-pending demand from the state government. The Union Cabinet’s nod came on Tuesday (February 24), just months ahead of the Assembly Election in Kerala. Kerala’s proposed renaming to Kerala as Keralam now needs a handful of steps. The President of India has to send a bill to the Kerala Assembly.
Centre will get the President’s nod to introduce a Bill in Parliament to alter the state’s name in the First Schedule of the Constitution. The Bill will need to be passed by a simple majority in both Houses of Parliament. If passed, it would require the President’s assent, and will then be notified in a Gazette. After this, the name change would formally take effect. PM Narendra Modi, after the Cabinet approval, said, the decision “reflects the will of the people of the state”, and is “in line with our efforts to strengthen the connect with our glorious culture”.
The journey began in August 2023, when the Kerala Assembly passed a unanimous resolution moved by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The name of our State in Malayalam is Keralam. States were reorganised on a linguistic basis on November 1, 1956… The demand for a united Keralam for the people who speak Malayalam as their mother tongue has been strong since the days of the freedom struggle.
Etymologically, scholars link it to “cher” (to join) and “alam” (region), meaning land added by the sea. Other historians trace it to “keram” (coconut), which is a major agricultural produce of the state. After getting passed in the state Assembly, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Tuesday announced the Union Cabinet’s approval. The BJP’s Kerala unit had earlier endorsed the move in January, reported The Hindu newspaper.
Five years later, in 2016, the Mamata Banerjee-led government again made a name-changing proposal. It proposed “Bengal” in English, “Bangla” in Bangla and “Bangal” in Hindi. This was also turned down. The Centre rejected the proposal to rename the state primarily because it suggested three different names in three languages. The Centre said that it could only accept a single, uniform name for the state.
Change in the name of a state requires constitutional amendment after taking into consideration all relevant factors,” junior home minister Nityanand Rai said in a written response to a question from Rajya Sabha MP Ritabrata Banerjee. The Ministry of External Affairs had objected to the proposals suggesting Bangla had similarities to Bangladesh, and it would be difficult to differentiate the two at international forums, reported The Hindu.
After the Union Cabinet cleared the proposal to rename Kerala as Keralam, Mamata Banerjee said, “We have nothing against any state. Kerala’s proposal has been accepted because there is an understanding between the BJP and the CPM,” reported Kolkata-based newspaper, The Telegraph. She alleged political considerations behind the approval and asserted, “They [BJP] won’t be in power forever. We will get the Bengal name for our state”, reiterating her government’s push to rename West Bengal as Bangla.
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