Kerala Name Change: Now call it Kerala, not Kerala. Why did Shashi Tharoor get angry on the decision of Modi government?

News India Live, Digital Desk: The identity of the beautiful state of Kerala, South India, is now officially going to change. The Modi government at the Center has given its approval to the proposal to change the name of the state to ‘Keralam’. However, politics has now become heated over this linguistic and cultural change. Veteran Congress leader and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor has slammed the central government, questioning the “timing” and “manner” of this decision. Why was the name changed? What is the logic behind this? The Kerala Assembly had long ago unanimously passed a resolution, urging the Center to change the name of the state from ‘Kerala’ to ‘Keralam’ under Article 3 of the Constitution. Malayalam Identity: In the local language Malayalam, this state has always been called ‘Keralaam’. Cultural Pride: The state government argues that the word ‘Keralaam’ should be used in official documents and the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution too so that the state The linguistic heritage of India can be respected. Centre’s seal of approval: The Home Ministry has now given the green signal to this proposal, after which the process of name change has started. Shashi Tharoor’s objection: “This is just politics of diverting attention.” Responding to this decision of changing the name, Shashi Tharoor has made a scathing attack on the Central Government. Following are the main points of his protest: Question on priority: Tharoor says it is incomprehensible to give priority to issues like name change when the country and the state are facing unemployment and economic challenges. Translation problem: He argued that saying ‘Kerala’ in English is easy and globally accepted, while ‘Keralaam’ is mainly for Malayalam speakers. Just headline hunting: Tharoor termed it as the “politics of name change” of the Modi government, saying that it This is just an attempt to divert the public’s attention from the real issues. What will change for the general public? Government Documents: Now in future, ‘Kerala’ will be written in place of ‘Kerala’ in all gazettes, identity cards and government correspondence of the Central and State Governments. Constitutional Amendment: A bill in this regard will have to be brought in the Parliament so that changes can be made in the First Schedule of the Constitution. Special Note: This is not the first time that the name of a state or city has been changed (like Orissa to Odisha or Bombay to Mumbai), but The issue of ‘Keralaam’ is considered very emotional because of its linguistic roots.