Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
President Droupadi Murmu has given her assent to the Kerala (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2026, paving the way for the state to be officially renamed Keralam. The legislation was passed by the Lok Sabha on Tuesday and cleared by the Rajya Sabha through a voice vote on Wednesday. With the President’s assent, the Bill has now become law.
The Bill provides for changing the name of the state from Kerala to Keralam and amending the First Schedule of the Constitution accordingly under Article 3.
advertisement
Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai, while responding to the Bill in the Rajya Sabha, said the Kerala Assembly had passed a resolution in 2024 urging the Centre to bring legislation to change the state’s name to Keralam.
“The Bill provides that the State of Kerala will be known as the State of Keralam, and hence there is a proposal to rename the State of Kerala to Keralam,” Rai said.
The Kerala government had forwarded the Assembly’s resolution to the Centre in June 2024.
The President subsequently referred the proposal to the state legislature for its views. Following this, the Kerala Assembly adopted a unanimous resolution agreeing with the proposed name change.
According to the Bill’s statement of objects and reasons, the legislation provides for the alteration of the state’s name and makes the necessary amendments to the Constitution along with consequential provisions.
The First Schedule of the Constitution will be amended to replace the name “Kerala” with “Keralam”.
CHANDRASEKHAR SLAMS LDF, UDF MPs’ ABSENCE
BJP Kerala president Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Thursday criticised LDF and UDF MPs for being absent from Parliament when the Bill to rename Kerala as Keralam was passed, calling the name change a long-pending demand of the people.
Addressing a press conference in Delhi, Chandrasekhar said the BJP was “very proud” that the demand had moved towards becoming law soon after the party raised the issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “We had given a request to PM Modi for changing the name. We never expected that it would become law so quickly,” he said.
Chandrasekhar said common people and literary figures in Kerala were happy and celebrating the passage of what he described as a “historic” Bill. “It is a milestone in the history of Kerala, and we are very much proud to be a part of that,” he said.
He alleged that Congress and CPI(M) MPs had shown no interest in supporting the Bill despite the name change being a long-standing demand.
“When Parliament passed this Bill yesterday, there were no LDF or UDF MPs in the House as they had already boycotted it,” Chandrasekhar said.
He alleged that the two fronts had previously come together on issues linked to PDP leader Abdul Nasar Maadani and against the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, but failed to unite on an issue concerning Kerala.
“If you examine the history of these two political fronts, you will understand that whenever issues concerning the development of the state come up for discussion in Parliament, they will not support them,” he alleged.
Chandrasekhar also accused the Congress and CPI(M)-led fronts of supporting student agitations in Delhi while ignoring the problems faced by Public Service Commission job aspirants in Kerala.
“It is a Bill which everyone should have come together to pass. I expected the UDF, LDF and NDA to pass it together. But yesterday, they continued with their old power politics,” he alleged.
BJP Rajya Sabha MP C Sadanandan Master and senior party leader P K Krishnadas were also present at the press conference.
The Kerala Assembly had passed a resolution in 2024 urging the Centre to bring legislation to change the state’s name to Keralam. The proposal was subsequently referred to the state legislature for its views, following which the Assembly unanimously backed the name change.
– Ends
With PTI inputs
SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
