Festival to test efficiency of SFs after Kangpokpi failure
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: May 19, 2025 -

REGARDLESS of assurances being given by Tangkhul civil societies and security authorities for the safety of visitors and participants of the Shirui Lily Festival, a tourism promotional event scheduled to be held from May 20 to 24, the hate speech delivered by a leader of Delhi unit Kuki Students' Organisation (KSO) underscores that most elaborate security arrangements must be put in place to ensure disturbance-free conduct of the festival.

Starting with the Shirui Lily Festival in Ukhrul district, a region absolutely unaffected by the Kuki-Meetei conflict, the government aims to cast off the disturbed tag from the state through showcasing of the rich culture and the potential for adventure tourism.

With the latest edition of the Festival set to blend tradition with modernity, the organisers intend to impress the visitors with cultural showcases, indigenous oral storytelling, first of its kind AI-integrated pavilion developed in partnership with Microsoft's CSR wing to narrate local folklore using technology, and the popular Shirui Music Festival, which will see a mix of local, national and international artistes.

The festival is also being packaged to highlight the state's resilience and the people's readiness to welcome visitors from across the country and abroad, restore confidence among domestic and international travellers, and remind the world that no harm was done to any tourist in-spite of the state periodically affected by unrest situation for the past many decades.

After the violence broke out in May 2023., celebration of all festivals, including religious events, came to a grinding halt in the valley areas in the first year while celebrations in the hills were held in a low key manner.

With signs of improvement in the overall situation after imposition of the President's Rule, conduct of religious events and recreational/entertainment programmes has started.

Similarly, after a two-year hiatus caused by the Kuki-Meetei conflict, the state's Tourism Department must have perceived that organising the Shirui Lily festival would help further subside the prevailing tension, and revive the tourism sector as well as the state's image.

Though the state's tourism potential is not comparable with other states which generate healthy income from tourism, the semblance of peace in Manipur after nearly 19 months of turmoil seems to be the driving force behind the Tourism Department planning a series of ambitious initiatives to impress domestic as well as foreign tourists that there are places in the state which are untouched by the violence.

Taking into account steps taken up by the security forces based on complaints lodged to the police by various organisations, the KSO functionary might be tracked, traced and taken into custody but his viperous speech, inciting the Kuki folks to prevent 'the Meetei people from taking part in the festival at any cost, including the use of violence, has made it crystal clear that Kuki organisations are hell bent on fanning the cauldron and provoke retaliatory action to eventually justify their demand for separation administration for the Kuki-Zo community.

Thus, the festival would serve as a litmus test for both the President's Rule regime and the central government to assert that the state's law and order situation is under control unlike the February flop show in Kangpokpi district when the government forces retreated instead of effectively tackling the protesters laying siege on the national highway, as directed by the Ministry of Home Affairs.