Is Kerala Changing Its Name to Keralam?
In 2023, Kerala sought to rename itself 'Keralam' for its Malayalam heritage, while West Bengal's attempt to become 'Bangla' faced international confusion concerns.
God's Own Country – Kerala, wants to embrace its traditional name. On 9th August 2023,in Kerala Legislative Assembly, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan moved a resolution in the Kerala Assembly requesting the Central Government to change the name of the state from ‘Kerala’ to ‘Keralam’. Pinarayi Vijayan said that it was Keralam in Malayalam while in other languages it is called Kerala. He said that the need to form a united Kerala for the Malayalam-speaking communities had strongly emerged since the time of the national freedom struggle. But the name of the state is written as Kerala in the Constitution. He further said, "This Assembly unanimously requests the Union Government to take immediate steps to amend it as 'Keralam' and it be renamed as 'Keralam' in all the languages mentioned in the Constitution." Over the years, and cities, including the capital Trivandrum, which is now called Thiruvananthapuram. Cochin went back to the traditional Kochi, Quilon to Kollam and Trichur to Thrissur. The names of cities and towns can be changed by states with the approval of the Ministry of Home Affairs, but changing a state's name requires the Parliament's approval.
Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai had also said that the Centre had received a proposal from the West Bengal government to rename the state as 'Bangla'. In 2016 West Bengal proposed three names in three different languages -- 'Bangla' in Bengali, 'Bengal' in English and 'Bangal' in Hindi. However, the Centre rejected the proposal and asked for a single name. The West Bengal assembly then passed a resolution to change the state's name to 'Bangla'. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that she doesn't like her state to figure at the bottom just because alphabetically it is placed way down the line, and changing the name to Bangla would solve the problem. "By the time West Bengal is getting its turn, both the speaker and the listener are losing their patience and interest. This is happening in all important meetings. There is no one to hear.” The resolution was sent to the Union home ministry for approval. However, there was objection from the Central government as 'Bangla' has similarity to Bangladesh and it would be difficult to differentiate the two at international forums. Though the names of cities and towns have been changed, the name of any state was changed last time in 2011, when Orissa became Odisha. Now let us see if the Parliament approves Kerala to be renamed Keralam and West Bengal to Bangla.
