Kerala Assembly passes resolution to rename state as 'Keralam'

The Kerala Assembly on Wednesday unanimously adopted a resolution urging the Central government to officially change the name of the State from 'Kerala' to 'Keralam'. The resolution was moved by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan who urged the Centre to change the state's name to 'Keralam' in all languages included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India.

The resolution was accepted by the Congress-led UDF opposition which did not suggest any amendments or modifications in it, according to a PTI report. Thereafter, it was declared as unanimously adopted by the Assembly by Speaker A N Shamseer based on a show of hands.

The CM, presenting the resolution, said that the state was called 'Keralam' in Malayalam, but in other languages it was still Kerala. He said that the need 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 our state is written as Kerala in the First Schedule of the Constitution."

"This Assembly unanimously requests the Union Government to take immediate steps to amend it as 'Keralam' under Article 3 of the Constitution and it be renamed as 'Keralam' in all the languages mentioned in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution," he said.

Meanwhile, a day ago, the Kerala Assembly unanimously passed a resolution against the Central government's "unilateral and hasty" plan to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the country.

CM Pinarayi Vijayan claimed that the implementation of the UCC would topple the Constitution's secular character.

"For Sangh Parivar, the Constitution is Manusmriti. They don't honour our constitution," said the Kerala CM. "Sangh Parivar is not discussing whether UCC is required or not. It's not the UCC said in the constitution that is in the mind of Sangh Parivar," he added.

He also accused the BJP of diverting the attention of people from the real issues ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

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