Delhi Confidential: Mission Keralam

As the Union Cabinet has approved the proposal to change the name of Kerala to ‘Keralam’, former Union Minister and Kerala BJP president Rajeev Chandrasekhar has started “correcting” people on the name of the state. Chandrasekhar had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking Kerala’s name change to ‘Keralalm’ a few months ago, it is learnt. Now, when the Union Cabinet has given its nod to the name change, Chandrasekhar is not only using the “new name” in conversations, but also asking others to do the same.

On A Platter

A lavish ‘Keralam’ lunch awaited officials and mediapersons attending Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw’s press conference on railway reforms on Thursday. There was appam, idiyappam, vegetable stew, red rice accompanied by Kerala-style varathu aracha sambar and rasam, mixed thoran, erissery, pappadam, curd and three varieties of pickles. The sumptuous spread was obviously to celebrate the Union Cabinet’s decision on renaming Kerala as ‘Keralam’, a demand from the state that had been pending for a while.

Lecture Series

AS PART of a 10-year deadline for “decolonisation” 200 years after Thomas Macaulay’s 1835 Minute set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a series of lectures on “decolonisation literacy” will kick off on Friday. Former Rajya Sabha MP Rakesh Sinha is set to deliver the first lecture. Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal and former Union Minister Dinesh Trivedi will also be present on the occasion. The lecture is being organised by the Centre for Study of Democracy and Culture.