Malayalam Language Bill 2025

Malayalam Language Bill, 2025: In October 2025 the Kerala’s Left Democratic Front (LDF) government proposed the Malayalam Language Bill , 2025 in the Legislative Assembly of the Kerala to recognise the Malayalam language as sole official language of the state of Kerala, however the bill faced the strong opposition on the from the Karnataka Government and the 

Language has always been at the heart of identity in India. In a landmark move in October 2025, the Kerala Government, led by the Left Democratic Front (LDF), introduced and passed the Malayalam Language Bill, 2025. The Bill seeks to officially recognize Malayalam as the sole language of the state for all administrative and educational purposes.

What are the Key Provisions of The Bill?

Malayalam Language Bill, 2025: The Bill is not just symbolic in nature. It carries legal mandates that will change how the state functions.

• The primary goal is to move away from the dual-language system (English and Malayalam) and establish Malayalam as the sole official language by making it the official medium for all government orders, circulars, and notifications, the state aims to make the administration more accessible to the common man who may not be proficient in English.

• Ensuring justice in the Local Language The Bill seeks to ensure justice in the local language by making Malayalam the official language of lower courts(District and Sessions Courts) of the state. It will also translate complex central and state Acts into the regional language to make a more accessible legal system folocals. 

• The Bill strengthened cultural identity through education by mandating Malayalam as the compulsory first languagefrom Class 1 to Class 10. The state government sees culture to survive and it must be preserved for the younger generation.

• The Malayalam Bill 2025, also focuses on modernizing the language for the digital age. It aims to develop open-source software and AI tools in Malayalam. The objective is to ensure that e-governance, mobile apps, and government websites are not just "translated" but natively functional in Malayalam, bridging the digital divide.

• It rectifies the past legal hurdles where a similar version of this Bill was rejected by the President in 2017 due to conflicts with the Official Language Act, 1963 and minority rights. A key objective of the 2025 version is to address those specific legal objections by:

• The Bill includes "safeguard clauses" for linguistic minorities from Kannada and Tamil speaking people. 

• It also aligns with the National Education Curriculum and the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2005. 

Also read: Good Governance Day: Index, Top States & India's Efforts

India’s unity rests on respecting every language and every citizen’s right to learn in their mother tongue.

The proposed Malayalam Language Bill–2025, by mandating compulsory Malayalam as the first language even in Kannada-medium schools, strikes at the heart of linguistic… pic.twitter.com/hddamABKDR

— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) January 8, 2026

Why is the Karnataka Government Opposing the Bill?

The Introduction of the Malayalam Bill has led to debate between neighboring states especially from the Karnataka government issues like 

• The Kasaragod Issue: The northernmost district of Kerala, Kasaragod. It  is home to a significant population of Kannada-speaking people. Karnataka government argues that making Malayalam compulsory would "linguistically isolate" them and violate the minority rights within the state. 

• Critics argue that the Bill may violate the Constitutional rights under Article 29 & Article 30 which protect the rights of minorities to preserve their distinct language and script.

• Karnataka Government also argued that Kannada-medium schools within the border areas will lose their relevance which will affect the academic future of the students. 

Kerala's Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan stated that the Bill is not intended to "impose" a language but to "promote"  and protect the minority rights. The government has clarified that there will be Special Provisions for linguistic minorities (Tamil and Kannada speaking) in specific notified blocks, Choice of Language for those students whose mother tongue is not Malayalam will still have the option to study their own language as per existing minority rights and The Exemption Rule for Non-Malayali students and children of central government employees can seek exemptions from Malayalam exams under specific criteria.

The apprehensions raised regarding the Malayalam Language Bill, 2025 do not reflect the facts or the inclusive spirit of the legislation passed by the Kerala Legislative Assembly. Kerala’s progress has always been rooted in comprehensive development anchored in equality and… pic.twitter.com/gqc8NAa4FU

— Pinarayi Vijayan (@pinarayivijayan) January 10, 2026

What are the Constitutional Provisions?