The Kerala Legislative Assembly on Monday unanimously passed a new resolution urging the Centre to bring in a Constitutional amendment to change the state’s name to ‘Keralam’ from ‘Kerala’.
The resolution, moved by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, demanded that necessary measures should be taken under Article 3 of the Constitution to officially change the name of the state as ‘Keralam’ in the First Schedule of the Constitution.
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Earlier in August last year, a similar resolution had been passed by the state Assembly. The resolution asked the Centre to change the name of the state to ‘Keralam’ in the First Schedule of the Constitution. Similarly the resolution wanted the Centre to change the name as ‘Keralam’ in all languages under the Eighth Schedule.
However, the Union Home Ministry returned the earlier passed resolution pointing out corrections . The Home Ministry suggested that such an amendment was required only in the First Schedule of the Constitution. Following this a new resolution is brought in the Assembly.
Moving the resolution, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that the name ‘Keralam’ is commonly used in Malayalam. However, the state is being called as ‘Kerala’ in official records. It is in this backdrop that the resolution was moved, he said.
While the state is referred to as “Keralam” in Malayalam, it continues to be written as “Government of Kerala” in English, even in government documents. “Keralam” has deep historical and literary roots. But the British changed the name “ Keralam” into “Kerala” in the Anglicisation process.
