New Delhi, February 25 A gentle transition from "Kerala" to "Keralam" will not trigger an identity extinction event, CPI(M) leader John Brittas said on Wednesday in response to Congress MP Shashi Tharoor's question about what happens to terms such as "Keralite" and "Keralan" now that the state has been renamed.
"Identity isn't a spelling test," Brittas, a Rajya Sabha MP, said in a post on X.
Brittas was responding to Tharoor's post, which criticized the renaming of the state of Kerala as 'Keralam'. The Congress leader also responded, tagging another post that asked why the state's name was changed.
Tagging Thiruvananthapuram MP, Brittas said he should "step away from the microbe-mineral anxiety," and quipped that "the rest of us continue to stay Malayalee or Mallu" as we have for decades.
"We've survived quite happily as Malayalees in polite society and Mallus among friends (and in JNU, where it was equal parts tease and term of endearment). A gentle transition from 'Kerala' to 'Keralam' is not going to trigger an identity extinction event," Brittas said on X.
He emphasized that someone from Andhra is still Telugu, one from Tamil Nadu is still Tamilian, and people from West Bengal remain Bengalis.
"No one panicked, coined 'Teluguite,' or set Twitter on fire," Brittas said.
"So if 'Keralam' makes you itch to invent new demonyms, feel free to clutch 'Keralite'. The rest of us will continue with Malayalee/Mallu, as we have for decades," he said, adding, "Because identity isn't a spelling test. It's what survives when you're ordering biryani in Delhi, and someone yells, 'Mallu da!' -- with a grin."
In a post on X on Tuesday, Tharoor had a witty take on Kerala's name change, asking what happens now to the terms "Keralite" and "Keralan" for the "denizens" of the new "Keralam".
In a lighter vein, Tharoor had said that "Keralamite" sounds like a microbe and "Keralamian" like a rare earth mineral, and added that the Kerala Chief Minister's Office might want to launch a competition for new terms resulting from this electoral zeal.
Tharoor also responded to Brittas's remarks. Tagging a reply to the CPI(M) MP, which questioned the reason behind the name change, Tharoor said, "Dear John Brittas, do explain!"
The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Tuesday approved the Kerala government's proposal to change the state's name to Keralam. The decision was taken at the first Cabinet meeting held at Seva Teerth, the new PMO complex.