The Union Cabinet is expected to consider approving the renaming of Kerala as ‘Keralam’, a proposal that has gathered political momentum ahead of the state assembly elections due before May. The move follows a resolution passed twice by the Kerala Legislative Assembly urging the Center to amend the Constitution to reflect the state’s name in its Malayalam form in all Eighth Schedule languages.
If passed, the amendment would change the references to the state in the First Schedule of the Constitution under Article 3 and formalize “Keralam” as its official name in all recognized languages.
Resolutions of the Kerala Assembly and the constitutional process
The proposal was first introduced in 2024 by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who argued that the state was referred to as “Keralam” in Malayalam and that the current English rendering did not reflect the linguistic and historical identity.
“But the name of our state is written as Kerala in the First Schedule of the Constitution. This Assembly requests the Center to take immediate steps to change it to ‘Keralam’ under Article 3 of the Constitution and to have it renamed as ‘Keralam’ in all the languages mentioned in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution,” Vijayan said while moving the resolution.
The Assembly passed the resolution again on 25 June 2024 after the Union Home Ministry proposed technical amendments to the original proposal. The revised resolution was subsequently forwarded to the center for assessment.
The state legislature has already approved the changes in official records in Kerala, pending a constitutional amendment at the national level.
Political background before the parliamentary elections
The timing of the cabinet meeting is significant. Kerala has until May to elect 140 members to its legislature, although the Election Commission of India has not yet announced the election schedule.
The proposed renaming has received rare cross-party support in the state. On 24 January, Kerala BJP president Rajeev Chandrasekhar publicly thanked Vijayan for responding to his letter supporting the initiative. Chandrasekhar had earlier written to the chief minister to express his support for the Left Democratic Front government’s move.
In the chief minister’s reply on social media, Chandrasekhar said the name ‘Keralam’ reflects the state’s history, language and cultural roots.
Cabinet meeting at Seva Tirtha
The expected approval is set against a broader institutional transformation in New Delhi. The Union Cabinet is meeting for the first time at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s new office at Seva Tirtha. The previous meeting was held on February 13 in the office of the Prime Minister in the South Block, shortly before the transfer of operations to the new premises.
While the renaming proposal was conceived as a linguistic and cultural correction, its consideration in an election year underscores its political resonance. Proponents see the change as aligning constitutional terminology with historical identity, tracing the quest for a unified Malayalam-speaking state back to the freedom movement.
If approved, “Keralam” would join a number of Indian states and cities that have formally changed their names in recent decades to better reflect the local language and heritage.
