LUCKNOW, July 5 -- Uniquely named and distinctively grown varieties, ranging from Sindoor to Yogi-Raaj, stole the show at the annual Mango Festival in Lucknow, showcasing creativity, nationalism and horticultural innovation.

Inaugurated by chief minister Yogi Adityanath at Awadh Shilpgram on Friday, the three-day festival displayed hundreds of mango varieties, but it was the unusually named ones among them that drew the attention of one and all.

Among them was the red 'Sindoor' mango, named after 'Operation Sindoor', India's military response to the Pahalgam terrorist attack. Operation Sindoor targeted terror-related sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in May.

"Its vermilion hue symbolises the valour of the Indian Arm...