Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 13 (PTI) The Kerala unit of the BJP has extended support to the LDF government’s move to rename the state as “Keralam” and sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention for the same.
Party state Chief Rajeev Chandrasekhar sent letters to the PM and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, making the party’s stand clear in the matter.
The renaming would help to curb the attempts of extremist forces that are raising demands for the division of the state into separate districts on the basis of religion, he said.
In his letter to the Prime Minister, Chandrasekhar pointed out that state Legislative Assembly had passed a resolution to change the name of the state in official records from “Kerala” to “Keralam”.
Stating that the BJP’s ideology is grounded in protecting and respecting linguistic culture and traditions, he said the party has always seen the state as “Keralam” with thousands of years of tradition, heritage and culture that it represents.
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. PTI LGK ADB
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