Kerala Assembly passes new resolution to change state's name to 'Keralam'

Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan

Almost a year after the State Assembly unanimously passed a resolution urging the Centre to bring in a Constitutional amendment to change the State's name to 'Keralam' from 'Kerala', the Assembly passed the resolution again on Monday with minor corrections.

The House passed the new resolution after the Centre returned the earlier one pointing out corrections.

Presenting the resolution, the CM said that the state was called 'Keralam' in Malayalam, but in other languages it was still Kerala. He said that the need to form a united Kerala for the Malayalam speaking communities had strongly emerged since the time of the national freedom struggle.

A resolution seeking to officially change the state's name was unanimously passed on August 9 last year. The resolution asked the Centre to change the name of the state to 'Keralam' in the First Schedule of the Constitution.

Similarly the resolution wanted the Centre to change the name as ‘Keralam’ in all languages under the Eighth Schedule.

Despite "Keralam" being a name with deep historical and literary roots, the British popularized the name "Kerala." More than sixty-five years after the state was formed, Malayalees have yet to officially reclaim the name "Keralam" in all official documents. While the state is referred to as "Keralam" in Malayalam, it continues to be written as "Government of Kerala" in English, even in government documents.