PM Modi inaugurates Kashi Tamil Sangamam's second edition in Varanasi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today inaugurated the second edition of the Kashi Tamil Sangamam at Namo Ghat in Varanasi. The cultural festival will be held from December 17 to 30.

While speaking at the festival's inauguration, Modi said, "You all have come here as members of my family, more than being just guests. I welcome you all to the Kashi Tamil Sangamam."

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also addressed the audience at the event. He said, "Kashi Tamil Sangamam will strengthen the cultural nationalism of our country."

"Due to the religious importance of Kashi, people from all over the country have been coming here. It is the centre of faith, culture and spiritual awareness in India. Like Kashi, Tamil Nadu has also been a centre of culture, knowledge, art, architecture and literature since ancient times," Adityanath added.

The first batch of the Tamil delegation departed from Chennai on December 15. Nearly 1,400 people (seven groups of 200 each) from varied walks of life are expected to be travelling from different parts of Tamil Nadu.

During their stay in Kashi, as per their tour itinerary, they will also visit Prayagraj and Ayodhya, the official said.

"The seven groups of students (Ganga), teachers (Yamuna), professionals (Godavari), spiritual (Saraswati), farmers and artisans (Narmada), writers (Sindhu) and traders and businessmen (Kaveri) have been named after seven sacred rivers of India will travel from Chennai, Coimbatore and Kanyakumari to Kashi," an official statement said on Saturday.

"More than 42,000 registrations were received during the time of registration. Out of them, 200 people for each group were selected by the selection committee," it said.

The first phase of the Kashi Tamil Sangamam was organised from November 16 to December 16, 2022, with the Ministry of Education working as the nodal agency, in which over 2,500 people from Tamil Nadu travelled to Kashi, Prayagraj and Ayodhya on an eight-day tour.