'What happens to Keralite now?' Shashi Tharoor over govt's move to rename Kerala as ‘Keralam’

The Union cabinet on Tuesday gave its consent to rename Kerala as 'Keralam'.

Updated on: Feb 24, 2026, 15:36:34 IST

By HT News Desk | Edited by Nayanika Sengupta

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What happens to Keralite now, wondered Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday, ahead of Union Cabinet's decision of approving the renaming of Kerala as “Keralam”.

File photo of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor during the launch of his book titled, (PTI)

The move follows a resolution passed twice by the Kerala Legislative Assembly urging the Centre to amend the Constitution to reflect the state’s name in its Malayalam form across all languages listed in the Eighth Schedule.

Reacting to the development, Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor said, “All to the good, no doubt, but a small linguistic question for the Anglophones among us: what happens now to the terms “Keralite” and “Keralan” for the denizens of the new “Keralam”?”

“Keralamite” sounds like a microbe and “Keralamian” like a rare earth mineral…!" he said on X, tagging Kerala CMO, who he said "might want to launch a competition for new terms resulting from this electoral zeal."

On bill to rename Kerala to ‘Keralam’, state BJP president Rajeev Chandrashekhar said the new name will be appropriate because “we are going to be a state that is going to restore and protect our traditions and culture and also build a forward-looking state economy”.

"It is clear that every Malayali wants change and wants to set aside politics of lies and fake promises and bring in politics of performance....," he said, according to a video shared by ANI news agency.

Kerala Assembly has in the past passed a resolution demanding change of the name to 'Keralam', considering how it is pronounced and written in Malayalam.

All parties, including CPM, Congress and the BJP, are in favour of the name change.

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