Shashi Tharoor Questions Priority Over Development Projects As Kerala's Name Changes To Keralam

New Delhi: After the Union Cabinet announced the name change of Kerala to Keralam, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor questioned the need for a name change and not proper development.

Chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the cabinet had approved the proposal to officially rename the southern state of Kerala to 'Keralam'. The decision aligns the English name with its Malayalam equivalent and follows a unanimous resolution passed by the Kerala Legislative Assembly in June 2024.

Prime Minister Modi described the approval as reflecting "the will of the people of the state" and part of efforts to strengthen cultural connections.

However, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, representing Thiruvananthapuram, criticised the focus on the name change while highlighting the lack of significant development initiatives for Kerala from the Centre.

"It has already been 'Keralam' in Malayalam. So now, a Malayalam word is coming into English. I don't know what difference it makes," Tharoor said.

He claimed that the government has not provided an AIIMS, new institutions, or any major projects in the Union Budget, yet it readily authorised the renaming.

In a separate post on X, Tharoor raised a "small linguistic question" about the implications for residents of the renamed state. He questioned what would happen to terms like "Keralite" and "Keralan," joking that "Keralamite" sounds like a microbe and "Keralamian" like a rare earth mineral. He suggested the state government might consider launching a competition for new demonyms.

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