The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the proposal to rename Kerala to ‘Keralam’. Following the Cabinet’s approval, 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 provisions of Article 3 of the Constitution of India.
After receiving the views of the State Legislative Assembly of Kerala, the Government of India will take further action, and the recommendation of the President will be obtained for the introduction of the Kerala (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2026 in Parliament for altering the name of the State from ‘Kerala’ to ‘Keralam’.
The name change comes ahead of assembly polls
The name change comes ahead of the Assembly polls in the state, the dates of which are yet to be announced by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
In 2023 and 2024, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan moved a resolution to change the name from “Kerala” to “Keralam” in all languages included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. The resolution has already been passed twice by the Assembly. After reviewing the first resolution, the Union Home Minister suggested some technical changes.
The resolutions moved by the Kerala government sought to alter the name of the state from ‘Kerala’ to ‘Keralam’ under Article 3 of the Constitution of India.
The resolution stated: “The name of our State is ‘Keralam’ in the Malayalam language. States were formed on the basis of language on the 1st day of November, 1956. Kerala Piravi Day is also observed on the 1st day of November. Since the time of the National Independence struggle, there has been a strong demand for the formation of United Kerala for the people speaking the 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, to modify the name to ‘Keralam’.”
Gurgaon also went through a name change
In 2016, when Gurgaon was renamed Gurugram, the RSS suggested that the Union Government should rename Kerala as ‘Keralam’, Ahmedabad as ‘Amravati’, Hyderabad as ‘Bhagyanagar’, and Aurangabad as ‘Sambhajinagar’.
Earlier, Gurgaon was renamed Gurugram as a homage to Guru Dronacharya, a teacher in the epic Mahabharata, who was given the land as gurudakshina (a fee) by his disciples.
