Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting L Murugan, along with Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi, flagged off the train carrying 205 delegates for the Kashi Tamil Sangamam, from Chennai Egmore railway station on Thursday.
The first batch comprises students and delegates from IIT Madras, who will be attending the month-long Kashi Tamil Sangamam being organised to celebrate, reaffirm and rediscover the age-old links between Tamil Nadu and Kashi - two of the country's most important and ancient seats of learning.
Ravi interacted with the Kashi Tamil Sangamam Selection Committee Members; industrialist Nalli Kuppuswami Chetti; Vice-Chancellor of The Tamil Nadu Dr M G R Medical University Dr Sudha Seshayyan; Director, IIT Madras, V Kamakoti, and Prof Mohansankar Sivaprakasam; and Mohammad Asif Ali social and cultural activist.
He interacted with the student delegates and congratulated them for being a part of the great initiative.
Of the delegates in the first contingent to Kashi Tamil Sangamam, 34 boarded the train in Rameswaram, 94 in Tiruchirappalli and 77 others joined at the Dr MGR Chennai Egmore railway station.
Being promoted by the central government as part of the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, the November 17 - December 16 programme celebrates the spirit of 'Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat' and highlights the Tamil language and culture. It will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 19.
The programme aims to provide an opportunity for people from all walks of life including scholars, students, philosophers, traders, artisans, artists etc., from the two regions to come together, share their knowledge, culture and best practices and learn from each others' experience.
A month-long exhibition of handlooms, handicrafts, ODOP products, books, documentaries, cuisine, art forms, history, besides tourist places of the two regions will also be put up in Kashi.
"The connection between Kashi (Varanasi) and Tamil Nadu is over 1,000 years old and this has been mentioned in the Tamil epics of Silapathikkaram and Manimegalai," the Governor had said recently.
IIT-Madras and Banaras Hindu University are the knowledge partners for the event, which endeavours to bring the deep academic, economic, social and cultural relationships between Kashi and Tamil Nadu.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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