Ahead of polls, Union Cabinet approves Kerala’s renaming to ‘Keralam’
NEW DELHI, FEB 24 : The Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved the Kerala government’s proposal to change the name of the state to Keralam, a move that comes ahead of Assembly elections expected in April–May.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the Kerala (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2026, will be sent to the state Assembly for approval.
“After approval of the Union Cabinet, the President of India will refer a Bill, namely the Kerala (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2026, to the State Legislative Assembly of Kerala for expressing its views under the proviso to Article 3 of the Constitution of India,” Vaishnaw said.
The Legislative Assembly of Kerala unanimously adopted a resolution in June 2024 to alter the name of the state of “Kerala” to “Keralam.”
Notably, the Kerala Assembly had passed the resolution for a second time seeking to rename the state as Keralam, after Ministry of Home Affairs suggested technical changes to an earlier proposal.
The resolution, moved by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, urges the Union government to change the state’s name from Kerala to Keralam in all languages listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.
Moving the resolution, the chief minister had said the state was called ‘Keralam’ in Malayalam and that the demand to form a united Kerala for the Malayalam-speaking communities had strongly emerged since the time of the national freedom struggle. But the name of the state is written as Kerala in the First Schedule of the Constitution, he had said.
“The name of our State is ‘Keralam’ in Malayalam Language. States were formed on the basis of language on the 1st day of November, 1956. The Kerala Piravi Day is also on the 1st day of November. Since the time of National Independence Struggle, there has been a strong demand for the formation of United Kerala for the people speaking Malayalam language. But in the First Schedule to the Constitution the name of our State is recorded as ‘Kerala’. This Assembly unanimously appeals to the Central Government to take urgent steps as per Article 3 of the Constitution for modifying the name as ‘Keralam'”, the Kerala Assembly resolution read.
Thereafter, the Kerala government requested the central government to take necessary steps to amend the First Schedule to the Constitution by altering the name of ‘Kerala’ as ‘Keralam’ according to Article 3 of the Constitution. The Article 3 of the Constitution provides for alteration of names of existing states. According to Article 3, Parliament may by law alter the name of any state.
Further proviso to Article 3 states that no Bill for the purpose shall be introduced in either House of Parliament except on the recommendation of the president and unless where the proposal contained in the Bill affects the area, boundaries or name of any of the states, the Bill has been referred by the president to the legislature of that state for expressing its views thereon within such period as may be specified in the reference or within such further period as the president may allow and the period so specified or allowed has expired.
The Assembly had requested the Centre to amend the Constitution under Article 3 to reflect the name Keralam and to ensure its adoption across all scheduled languages. A similar unanimous resolution was passed by the House in August 2023 and submitted to the Centre, but was returned after the Home Ministry recommended technical revisions.
According to officials, the proposal was subsequently examined by the Government of India. With the approval of Home Minister Shah, a draft cabinet note on the name change was circulated to the Department of Legal Affairs and the Legislative Department under the Ministry of Law and Justice. Both departments have since concurred with the proposal to alter the state’s name from Kerala to Keralam.
-PTI
