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President Droupadi Murmu has denied assent to the Malayalam language bill, which was passed in the Kerala Assembly in 2015. According to reports, the Raj Bhavan received the denial message without specifically citing the reason.
The Kerala Assembly passed this bill during the tenure of the United Democratic Front (UDF) government to promote and nurture the Malayalam language. The bill was introduced by the then Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.
Currently, the Official Languages Act, 1969, recognises Malayalam or English as the official language of the state. However, this 2015 bill sought to amend this, and establish Malayalam as the sole official language in Kerala.
This language bill is primarily aimed to promote the Malayalam language as the administrative language by ensuring compulsory use in legal, government and education systems.
Even after the bill was passed in the Assembly, the discussion revolved around the fact that this would violate the rights of linguistic minorities, as the state has Tamil and Kannada speakers. So, the then-governor P Sathasivam referred the bill to the president.
Reports say the bill was reviewed by the Ministry of Home Affairs, as they received the bill in 2016. Earlier they raised a few clarifications regarding the bill. On April 1, 2024 the state government sent a letter to the Union government through the Governor, clarifying the doubts.