In one of the major policy initiatives by the CPI (M)-led government, the name of Kerala has been changed to Keralam. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who is being targeted by the rank and file of the CPI (M) for the debacle in the recent Lok Sabha election, introduced a resolution in the Legislative Assembly on Monday urging the Centre to amend the Constitution to change the name of the State to Keralam. There is no change in the meaning as Keralam is the Malayalam word for Kerala.

The resolution, moved by the Chief Minister, demanded that necessary amendment be made under Article 3 of the Constitution to officially change the name of the State as 'Keralam' in the First Schedule of the Constitution. This was passed unanimously by the Legislative Assembly. But the resolution has also demanded that Constitution be amended to include the changed name in all the languages under the 8th schedule. The Centre told the State that there was no need to tinker with the Constitution to include the changed name in all the languages under the 8th Schedule because a change in the First Schedule was sufficient to incorporate the same in all other languages that come under the said schedule.

The demand to change the name to Keralam has been pending for decades and Monday's resolution is expected to speed up the renaming process. It is for the Centre to amend Article 3 of the Constitution which enables it to form new States, alter the areas, boundaries or names of existing States. The resolution comes at a time when there is a demand among a section of the people to bifurcate the State into Travancore and Malabar as the religious demography is undergoing major changes. The population of Muslims in north Kerala, especially in the districts of Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kannur, Kasaragod and Wayanad has seen unprecedented increase making the community emerging as the deciding factor in all elections.