The state of Kerala may soon be called Keralam. The Kerala Assembly on Monday unanimously passed a resolution urging the centre to rename the state as Keralam in the constitution. This is the second time in the past year that such a resolution has been passed.
A similar resolution was passed on August 9 last year. The previous resolution sought amendments to the first schedule of the constitution. It also meant to seek an amendment to the 8th schedule which deals with the list of official languages.
On further examination though, it was realised that the wording did not include the latter demand. Hence, the resolution was modified and reintroduced in the assembly where it was passed again. The demand for a united Malayalam speaking state first gathered momentum in the 1920s and aimed to reintegrate the princely state of Travancore, Cochin and the Malabar District of Madras Presidency.
After independence though, on July 1, 1949 the two Malayalam speaking princely states were integrated to form the states of Travancore, Cochin. The state of Kerala was finally created after the state reorganisation commission’s commendation creating the state on linguistic basis.
The state of Kerala finally came into being on November 1, 1956. This was a brief history of how the state of Kerala came into being. With the recent resolution, the state might soon be called Keralam.
