Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has asked the Culture and the Housing departments to coordinate with different development authorities to prepare an action plan for creating a dedicated food street in every city, where people can get a wide variety of food belonging to different states and societies.
According to the government spokesman, the chief minister said that this project would introduce people to food from different states and they would know what to look for when they travel to states like Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Kerala, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh.
Stating that the food of Indian states may be different, but the energy that it gives is the same, the chief minister pointed out that India's diversity in terms of food, dress, language and culture, is its speciality. Yogi Adityanath said, "We have had the tradition of Sangam since ancient times.
All the cultures of India are the country's strengths. So, we should have dedicated food streets where people can get food not only from different parts of the country but also from different parts within the states, such as Garhwal and Kumaon in Uttarakhand and Bhojpuri, Awadhi, Bundelkhandi and Braj in UP."
He said, "The biggest confluence of the country is in Prayagraj, where the invisible Saraswati river merges with holy rivers like Ganga and Yamuna. Here we all get to see the world's biggest cultural event in the form of Kumbh.
If you walk from Uttarakhand, you will find many Prayags. Vishnu Prayag, Nand Prayag, Karna Prayag, Rudra Prayag, Dev Prayag and then this Prayag and this confluence are seen in the form of our present Prayagraj."
Referring to the recently held Kashi-Tamil Sangamam, the chief minister said that the initiative aimed at bringing people of two diverse cultures together to help them know and understand each other better and unite them.
He said, "Twelve groups from Tamil Nadu were in Kashi for a month. The groups included students, teachers, religious leaders, artists, handicraftsmen, farmers and labourers. They visited Prayagraj and Ayodhya.
This cultural exchange cleared the Tamils' misconceptions about Uttar Pradesh and north India which they had formed due to negative propaganda run by some vested interests. Every Tamilian who came to the Kashi-Tamil Sangamam was overwhelmed by the hospitality of the people of UP."