Kerala Assembly passes resolution to rename State as ‘Keralam’

Kerala Assembly proposes Constitutional amendment to change state name to 'Keralam' for Malayalam alignment, facing previous procedural issues.

The Kerala Legislative Assembly, in a unanimous decision on June 24, passed a resolution proposing a Constitutional amendment to change the name of the State from ‘Kerala’ to ‘Keralam’. The resolution, moved by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, called for invoking Article 3 of the Indian Constitution to effectuate this change in the First Schedule.

This resolution mirrors a previous attempt from last year, which was sent back by the Central government due to procedural issues.

Originally, the State sought to amend the names across all languages listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution to ‘Keralam’. However, following advice from the Union Home Ministry, the focus shifted to amending only the First Schedule, prompting the government to modify the resolution that was passed on August 9, 2023.

Mr. Vijayan highlighted that despite ‘Keralam’ being the Malayalam name of the State, it continues to be officially recorded as ‘Kerala’. The resolution aims to align the official name with the Malayalam pronunciation.

During the discussion, N. Samsudheen of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) proposed amendments to the resolution to prevent rejection by the Centre, but this proposal was ultimately turned down by the House. He also demanded action against officials who were responsible for the “oversight” in the original resolution.