- Congress MP Shashi Tharoor criticised the centre for renaming Kerala to Keralam instead of funding projects
- Tharoor noted Kerala already translates to Keralam in Malayalam, questioning the need for the name change
- He raised concerns about new demonyms like Keralamite and Keralamian sounding unusual or awkward
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has criticised the central government over the renaming of Kerala to 'Keralam', saying it focuses on name change but not on projects. Tharoor also highlighted that Kerala already translates to 'Keralam' in Malayalam, raising questions on the need to rename the state.
"It has already been 'Keralam' in Malayalam. So now, a Malayalam word is coming into English. I don't know what difference it makes. The government has not given us an AIIMS or any new institutions. They have given us no projects in the Union Budget. But when it comes to a name change, they are willing to authorise it," Tharoor said.
Tharoor, in a separate post on X, had a "small linguistic question" - what happens now to the terms "Keralite" and "Keralan" for the "denizens" of the new "Keralam". He asserted that 'Keralamite' sounds like a microbe and 'Keralamian' like a rare earth mineral.
Add image caption here
The Union Cabinet - chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi - approved the proposal for altering the name of Kerala to 'Keralam' on Tuesday, ahead of the state assembly elections. Kerala is expected to go to the polls before May to elect 140 members of the state legislative assembly. No official date has been announced by the Election Commission of India as of yet.
Also Read: Mamata Banerjee's "Anti-Bengali" Charge At Centre As Kerala Becomes Keralam
The state assembly has already passed a resolution to change the name in official records.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who had moved the resolution in 2024, wanted the Union government to change the southern state's name from "Kerala" to "Keralam" in all languages included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of the country. He had said that the demand to form a united Kerala for the Malayalam-speaking communities had emerged since the time of the national freedom struggle.
