The Kerala Legislative Assembly unanimously passed a resolution on Monday to rename the state to 'Keralam'. Both the Opposition Congress-led UDF and the treasury benches agreed to the proposal.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan introduced the resolution, calling on the Centre to officially change the state's name to 'Keralam' in the Constitution.

This resolution was previously adopted in August 2023 but had to be reintroduced due to technical reasons.

Chief Minister Vijayan explained that in Malayalam, the state is called 'Keralam'. He highlighted that states were reorganized based on language on November 1, 1956, which is also celebrated as Kerala's birthday. He emphasized the historical significance of creating a united Kerala for Malayalam-speaking communities, which was a strong aspiration during the national freedom struggle. However, the state's name is currently written as Kerala in the First Schedule of the Constitution.

The Chief Minister stated that the Assembly unanimously urges the Centre to amend the state's name under Article 3 of the Constitution and have it changed to 'Keralam' in all the languages listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.