NEW DELHI, Feb. 25 -- The Union cabinet on Tuesday gave its consent to rename Kerala as Keralam, a demand that was pursued by both the Pinarayi Vijayan government in the state and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's ideological fount, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The name change comes ahead of the soon-to-be announced assembly polls in the state. In 2023 and 2024, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, had moved the resolution to change the name from "Kerala" to "Keralam" in all languages included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of the country. The resolution was passed twice by the assembly, after the Union Home Ministry, after reviewing the first resolution, suggested some technical changes. The resolutions moved by the Government of Kerala sought to alter the name of the state from Kerala to 'Keralam' under article 3 of the Constitution of India. "The name of our State is 'Keralam' in Malayalam Language. States were formed on the basis of language on the 1st day of November, 1956. The Kerala Piravi Day is also on the 1st day of November. Since the time of National Independence Struggle, there has been a strong demand for the formation of United Kerala for the people speaking Malayalam language. But in the First Schedule to the Constitution the name of our State is recorded as "Kerala'. This Assembly unanimously appeals to the Central Government to take urgent steps as per Article 3 of the Constitution for modifying the name as 'Keralam'," the resolutions read. In 2016 when Gurgaon was renamed Gurugram, the RSS suggested that the union government should rename Kerala as 'Keralam', Ahmedabad as 'Amaravati', Hyderabad as 'Bhagyanagar', and Aurangabad as 'Sambhajinagar'. Gurgaon was changed to Gurugram as homage to Guru Dronacharya, a teacher in the epic Mahabharata, who was given the land in fee by his disciples. To be sure, the RSS in its communication already uses "historic names" for these cities. It has pushed for renaming Ahmedabad as Karnavati after a Hindu king, Karan Dev, who is said to have established the city in the 11th century; Sambhajinagar after Sambhaji, the elder son of King Shivaji, who was captured and executed by the Mughals; and, Bhagyanagar after Goddess Bhagyalakshmi. Aurangabad was renamed as Sambajinagar in 2023. Earlier, during the NDA's rule in 1996, Bombay was renamed Mumbai and in 2014 Bangalore was officially designated as Bengaluru. In the national Capital too, several roads have been renamed, including Aurangzeb Road which is now known as Dr A P J Abdul Kalam Road in honour of the late President. The other major cities that have been renamed during the NDA's tenure include Allahabad, which is now known as Prayagraj; Faizabad has been changed to Ayodhya; Mughalsarai to Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Junction and Osmanabad to Dharashiv. In 2011, the Shivraj Singh Chauhan government in Madhya Pradesh had petitioned the Centre to rename state capital Bhopal as Bhojpal to mark 1,000 years of King Bhojpal's coronation. The request was not approved by the UPA government. Attempts have also been made to rename Allahabad as Prayag. The Trinamool Congress in West Bengal too has been pushing the union government to change the name of the state to Bengal, pointing out that after Partition, there is no rationale in using the prefix West. In 2016 and 2018, the assembly passed a unanimous resolution seeking the change, but the demand has been pending....