The Kerala unit of the BJP has extended support to the LDF government’s proposal to rename the state “Keralam” and has sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention to formalise the change.
Party state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar wrote separate letters to the Prime Minister and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, outlining the BJP’s position on the issue.
Chandrasekhar said the renaming would help curb attempts by extremist forces raising demands for the division of the state into separate districts on religious lines.
In his letter to the Prime Minister, he noted that the Kerala Legislative Assembly had already passed a resolution seeking to change the state’s name in official records from “Kerala” to “Keralam”.
Stating that the BJP’s ideology is rooted in protecting linguistic culture and traditions, Chandrasekhar said the party has always viewed the state as “Keralam”, reflecting thousands of years of heritage and cultural continuity.
The leader, in the letter, expressed hope that with the renaming of the state, all political parties will work together to revive and preserve the state's rich traditional heritage and also work to create a "Vikasita, Surakshita Keralam" where the faith and tradition of all people cutting across their religion is protected and respected.
"A Keralam deeply rooted in its history, whilst working for a bright, prosperous future for all Malayalees, will also serve to blunt the efforts of some radical elements in our society, who continue to raise demands for carving out more 'separate districts' based on religion to fragment our State," he said.
"We respectfully request your intervention to ensure that our state is named the Malayalam-rooted name (Keralam)," Chandrasekhar added in the letter to PM Modi.
The BJP state president reiterated the same stand in his letter to the chief minister and expressed hope about creating a 'developed and safe Kerala' where the faith of all Malayalis living with different religious beliefs is protected and respected.
The Kerala assembly, in August 2024, had unanimously adopted a resolution urging the Centre to officially change the state's name to 'Keralam'.
The resolution was moved by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who urged the Union government to change the state's name to 'Keralam' in all languages included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India.
Presenting the resolution, the CM had said that the state was called 'Keralam' in Malayalam, but in other languages it was still Kerala.
He had said that the need to form a united Kerala for the Malayalam-speaking communities had strongly emerged since the time of the national freedom struggle.
The BJP does not have a member in the state legislative Assembly.