KCP-MC boycotts Sangai Festival 2025, calls for Manipur bandh on Nov 19
Imphal: One of the powerful underground groups, the Kangleipak Communist Party-Military Council (Progressive), has called a 24-hour general strike in Manipur on November 19 to protest the proposed celebrations of the Sangai festival, which is scheduled to be held from November 21 to 30 in Imphal.
KCP-MC (Progressive) Information and Publicity Secretary Maikhumba Meitei, in a statement, stated that the outfit is boycotting the festival due to the prevailing situation arising from the ongoing ethnic violence in the state.
The KCP further warned that if the president's administration fails to allow free movement for the Meiteis on the National Highways by December 3, 2025, it will impose a month-long bandh in the state.
The outfit clarified that it would exempt essential and emergency services, including media, medical, hospitals, water supplies, fire services, and religious ceremonies, from the bandh.
The outfit took this step after the state government issued an official notification on Saturday, announcing that it would organize the Sangai festival at the Hapta Kangjeibung, Imphal, from November 21 to 30.
This active voice version is clearer and maintains the focus on the actions of the KCP and the state government.
The government is carrying out construction work for rigid pavement on Palace Compound Road, ground leveling, installation of tents, and renovation of the Bhagyachandra Open Air Theatre near Hapta Kangjeibung, Imphal.
The KCP-MC's statement came at a time when several organizations associated with internally displaced persons (IDPs), including the Churachandpur Meitei United Committee, the Committee on Protection of Meitei Victims, Moreh (COPMeV), and other civil society organizations, have been opposing the festival.
Several Civil Society Organizations, including COCOMI, PANDM, IPSA, ACOAM-Lup, IPAK, KSA, ERDO, KANGLA MEI, KIL, CLK, SWA, LOYALUP, MIKAL, AKSIL, and ANDOK, have extended support to the boycott call.
The Sangai Festival, named after the state’s endangered brow-antlered deer, is Manipur’s biggest annual tourism event. The festival, celebrated since 2010, typically lasts for ten days, from November 21 to 30.
Ethnic turmoil suspended the festival for the past two years, resulting in over 260 deaths and displacing more than 60,000 people.