The Union Cabinet, chaired by Narendra Modi, has approved the Kerala government’s proposal to officially rename the state Kerala as Keralam. The decision marks a significant administrative and cultural step, aligning the state’s official name with its Malayalam usage. The approval was granted during a Cabinet meeting held at Seva Teerth, the newly inaugurated Prime Minister’s Office and Cabinet Secretariat complex in New Delhi.
Reacting to the move, senior Congress leader and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor added a touch of wordplay, raising an interesting linguistic question for English speakers. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Tharoor wondered what residents of the state would now be called in English. He noted that commonly used terms like “Keralite” and “Keralan” may no longer fit, joking that alternatives such as “Keralamite” sound like a microbe, while “Keralamian” resembles a rare earth mineral. He even suggested that the Kerala government might consider launching a competition to coin new demonyms.
The Cabinet’s approval follows a unanimous resolution passed by the Kerala Assembly on June 24, 2024, urging the Centre to amend the First Schedule of the Constitution to reflect the name ‘Keralam’. An earlier resolution passed in August 2023 had to be re-adopted after the Ministry of Home Affairs suggested certain technical changes.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who moved the resolution, emphasized that the state has always been known as ‘Keralam’ in Malayalam and that the demand for a unified Kerala for Malayalam-speaking people dates back to India’s freedom struggle. The renaming will require a constitutional amendment under Article 3, after which the name ‘Keralam’ will be reflected across all languages listed in the Eighth Schedule.
The decision also comes ahead of the state assembly elections expected in April–May, adding political significance to the historic move.
