The Lok Sabha passed the bill without discussion on Tuesday. The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday passed the Kerala (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2026 by voice vote amid the din to rename the southern state as ‘Keralam’, completing the parliamentary process for the change.
Political Context
“The name of a state is not merely about changing its name, or simply changing the name of a geographical area to ‘Keralam’. It certainly is that as well, but in the Malayalam language, ‘Keralam’ represents the culture, civilisation and emotions of Kerala. Opposition MPs demanded that Shah pilot the bill in the House since the list of business mentioned his name but the government rejected the demand. Krishna Prasad Tenneti, in the Chair at the time, urged Opposition members to let the House run smoothly, but the protests continued and the bill went through by voice vote amid the din.
The Opposition has been demanding that Amit Shah make a statement on the July 20 police action against student protesters at Jantar Mantar. ”These guidelines are provided under Rules 110, 124 and 240 of the Rules of Procedure. Earlier reporting noted: Lok Sabha gives nod to bill to rename Kerala, NCDC Bill The Kerala (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2026, and the National Co-operative Development Corporation (Amendment) BIll, 2026, were passed in the Lok Sabha without debate on Tuesday, amid heavy protest and sloganeering by the Opposition members of the House, who demanded an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a statement from Union home minister Amit Shah over the police excesses on student protesters at new Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on July 20. Therefore, making ‘Keralam’ the name of Kerala is a matter of pride, honour and self-respect for all of us, for all Indians,” said minister of state for home affairs Nityanand Rai, who piloted the legislation on behalf of Union home minister Amit Shah.
The move follows a resolution passed by the Kerala assembly in 2024, which noted that “since the time of the country’s independence struggle, there has been a strong demand for the formation of United Kerala for the people speaking the Malayalam language,” and that the state legislature had “unanimously appealed to the Central government to take urgent steps as per Article 3 of the Constitution for modifying the name as Keralam. “The minister of state Nityanand Rai is here and he is piloting the bill and that is very much within the parliamentary democracy that is being followed here,” said senior minister JP Nadda. Anything said in violation of the Rules shall not form part of the records, and you don’t have to repeat it again and again,” he said. Earlier reporting noted: Parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju said he was disappointed that senior Kerala leaders from the Congress chose not to speak on the bill, that was supposed to change the name of the state from Kerala to Keralam. “It is sad that even senior Congress leaders like KC Venugopal aren’t going to speak on the bill,” Rijiju said.
Earlier reporting noted: later, the Lower House passed the NCDC (Amendment) Bill, moved by minister of state for cooperation Murlidhar Mohol on behalf of Amit Shah, who holds the home and cooperation portfolio, The bill seeks to widen the channels through which the NCDC can fun cooperative societies.
