The Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved a proposal to change the name of Kerala to Keralam, prompting a humorous response from Shashi Tharoor, Member of Parliament from Thiruvananthapuram, who quipped, “What will happen to the terms Keralite, Keralan?”
Senior Congress leader Tharoor reacted to the change with a pun, wondering what Anglophones would now call people living in the southern state.
“All to the good, no doubt, but a little linguistic question for the Anglophones among us: what now becomes of the terms ‘Keralite’ and ‘Keralan’ for the people of the new ‘Keralam’? ‘Keralamite’ sounds like a microbe and ‘Keralamian’ sounds like a rare earth mineral…!or zeal new terms deriving from this rare earth mineral might want @CMOKeralaro,” he commented in a post on X while sharing Mint’s renaming report.
The state assembly passed a resolution to change the name in official records just ahead of the assembly elections in the state.
According to Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, after approval by the Union Cabinet, the President of India will refer the bill – titled Kerala (Change of Name) Bill, 2026 – to the Kerala Legislative Assembly for its views under the provisions of Article 3 of the Constitution of India.
What happens next in the process?
After receiving feedback from the Kerala legislature, the central government will seek a formal recommendation from the President to introduce the Kerala (Change of Name) Bill, 2026 in Parliament, according to an official statement.
The Kerala Legislative Assembly had earlier passed a resolution on 24 June 2024 seeking to officially change the state’s name to “Keralam”.
The state leadership subsequently approached the central government to initiate the required process to amend the First Schedule of the Constitution under Article 3, replacing “Kerala” with “Keralam”.
What did the resolution say to the Diet?
“The name of our state is ‘Keralam’ in the Malayalam language. The states were created based on the language on November 1, 1956. Kerala Piravi Day is also on November 1,” the resolution said.
“Since the struggle for national independence, there has been a strong demand for a united Kerala for the Malayalam speaking people. However, in the First Schedule of the Constitution, the name of our state is recorded as ‘Kerala’. This Assembly unanimously appeals to the Central Government to take urgent steps under Article 3 of the Constitution as ‘Keralam to amend the name.’
