Union Cabinet Finally Says YES to Renaming Kerala to Keralam – But Why Did It Take So Damn Long?
Yesterday, the Union cabinet dropped the bomb: they’ve approved Kerala’s long-standing demand to officially rename the state “Keralam” – the way every Malayali has always said it for centuries. Forget the anglicised “Kerala” slapped on by colonial maps. “Keralam” is the real, native name – proud, phonetic, rooted in the language people actually speak at home. The demand isn’t new, but the formal fight kicked off hard in august 2023 when the kerala Assembly passed its first unanimous resolution begging the Centre to update the Constitution’s First Schedule under Article 3.
Home Ministry played perfectionist, sent back “technical fixes.” kerala listened, revised, and re-passed the resolution on june 24-25, 2024, and shipped it off again. Then… crickets. Eight full months of radio silence from delhi while the file gathered dust.Until today – february 24, 2026 – when the cabinet finally nodded yes.
This isn’t just paperwork. It’s a middle finger to centuries of colonial residue still baked into India’s official identity. A state had to beg, fix, re-beg, and wait over two and a half years for basic linguistic dignity – even though the resolution sailed through unanimously twice. Every single mla said yes. The people said yes. Yet the Centre sat on it like it was optional. Now parliament gets the final say. If it passes, “Kerala” vanishes from the Constitution and “Keralam” takes its rightful place.
Question is: why did a simple name correction – backed by the state, backed by its language, backed by history – need to crawl through years of bureaucratic purgatory? When will delhi stop treating southern states like afterthoughts?Today’s approval feels like victory… but the delay screams louder than the win.Keralam is coming. About damn time.