Dragon Fruit renamed to ‘Kamalam’ in Gujarat because it looks like Lotus and reminds of China
Chief Minister of Gujarat Vijay Rupani announced that the state government has decided to rename dragon fruit as ‘Kamalam’. He also added that the state government has applied for a patent to change the nomenclature of dragon fruit. This fruit is largely grown in Kutch, Navsari and different parts of Saurashtra.
According to Rupani, the decision was based on the shape of the dragonfruit which looks like a lotus flower. ‘Kamalam’ is the Sanskrit word for lotus. Incidentally, the lotus is also the party symbol of BJP.
The CM further said that the word ‘dragon’ did not describe the fruit appropriately, adding that the move was not politically driven.
According to Rupani, there are two reasons behind this renaming. “The name dragon fruit is not proper, and due to its name one thinks of China,” he said, adding, “Farmers say it looks like lotus and that is the reason we have named it ”Kamalam.”
The move has led to several jokes and memes on Twitter. And some of them were hilarious. But the most bizarre trend was ‘banana’. The word started trending on Twitter on Wednesday after news of the name change went viral. Applying the Gujarat government’s logic in changing the name of ‘dragonfruit’ on the basis of its appearance, many wondered if banana would be next.
