The Lok Sabha on Tuesday (August 11) passed the Kerala (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2026 by voice vote, amid Opposition protests in the House. The Bill seeks to change the name of the state from “Kerala”, as it appears in the Constitution, to “Keralam”.
The Bill follows two unanimous resolutions passed by the Kerala Legislative Assembly, in August 2023 and June 2024, seeking the change. The Union Cabinet approved the proposal in February this year, after which the Bill was referred to the state assembly, which unanimously backed it.
In June 2024, the state assembly unanimously passed a resolution urging the Union government to take steps under Article 3 of the Constitution to change the state’s name to Keralam. This was the second such resolution passed by the assembly, after the earlier one in August 2023.
The assembly argued that “Keralam” is the name of the state in Malayalam, while “Kerala” is the name used in English and listed in the First Schedule of the Constitution.
There are several theories regarding Keralam’s etymological roots.
One of the earliest known mentions of the word occurs in Emperor Ashoka’s Rock Edict II, dated to 257 BCE. The edict reads: “Everywhere in the dominions of King Priyadarsin, Beloved of the gods, as well as those of his frontier sovereigns, such as the Chodas [Cholas], Pandyas, Satiyaputra, Ketalaputra [Keralaputra]…” (translated by epigraphist D R Bhandarkar).
Keralaputra, literally “son of Kerala” in Sanskrit, refers to the dynasty of the Cheras, one of the three main kingdoms of southern India.
German missionary and linguist Hermann Gundert, who compiled an early Malayalam-English dictionary, noted a relationship between the Canarese (Kannada) word “keram” and “cheram”, referring to the coastal land between Gokarna (in Karnataka) and Kanyakumari (Tamil Nadu, India’s southern tip). Another proposed derivation is from the Old Tamil root “cher”, meaning to join, and “alam”, meaning a region or land.
Malayalam-speaking populations were historically spread across different political entities, including the princely states of Travancore and Cochin, and the Malabar district of the Madras Presidency.
The demand to unite the Malayalam-speaking regions gained momentum under the Aikya Kerala, or United Kerala movement of the 1920s.
After Independence, the princely states of Travancore and Cochin were integrated in 1949 to form the Travancore-Cochin State.
The reorganisation of states on linguistic lines subsequently paved the way for a Malayalam-speaking state. Following the recommendations of the States Reorganisation Commission under Syed Fazl Ali, the modern state of Kerala came into existence on November 1, 1956.
Malabar district and Kasargod taluk were included in the new state, while four southern taluks of Travancore—Tovala, Agastheeswaram, Kalkulam and Vilayankode—and some parts of Shenkottai were excluded and eventually became part of Tamil Nadu.
In Malayalam, the new state was called Keralam. In English and the Constitution, it remained Kerala.
The Constitution explicitly gives Parliament the power to alter the name of a state.
Under Article 3, a Bill seeking such a change can be introduced in Parliament only on the President’s recommendation. If the proposal affects a state’s area, boundaries or name, the President refers the Bill to that state’s legislature and gives it an opportunity to express its views. The state legislature’s view, however, is ultimately not binding on Parliament.
In Kerala’s case, after the Union Cabinet approved the proposal in February 2026, the President referred the proposed Kerala (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2026 to the state assembly. The assembly unanimously agreed with the Bill.
The Bill was subsequently introduced in the Lok Sabha on August 10 and passed by voice vote on August 11. The Bill must now be passed by the Rajya Sabha and receive the President’s assent before the change from Kerala to Keralam becomes law.
