Leader Writer: Leivon Jimmy
It really is an inspiring development for the people of the state especially for the government of Manipur that the Manipur Sangai Festival is gaining a good momentum each passing year.
Thanks to the relentless effort of the tourism department of Manipur, this year two more country, Kenya and Myanmar, has approached to explore the feasibilities. Manipur has finally has able to erect a milestone in the African continent with the participation of delegation from Kenya.
The participation of Myanmar after Thailand however is an encouraging sign of the growing confident in Manipur from the eastern side of the globe. Leaving aside the Sangai festival for a while, the Korean has always been showing keen interest in setting up connection with Manipur in term of exploiting the human resource in the state which indeed is the need of the hour with the unemployment rate nearing the 7 lakhs mark.
The message is loud and clear on the potential of Manipur and its tourism besides the willingness of other country to come to Manipur.
The commitment of the government has also been well proved with the lifting of the Protected Area Permit (PAP) from the state as a trial basis. This has also played a significant role in the adverse impact on the aspect of tourism within a short period of time.
Even as the public are temporary lost in the dazzling grandeur of the Manipur Sangai festival but at the end of the day each and everyone have to face the grim reality persisting in the state, the spoil sport played by self proclaimed groups in pursuit of their vested goals.
The sad part is that this glory of ours would be jeopardized due to our inability to resolved differences and handle situation wisely. We instead of putting our heads together to help improve the situation to ensure prosperity are busy imposing bandhs, blockade, demonstration etc.
This is no co-incidence that ours celebrative moment is achieved at a wrong time when issues are swirling. Our immaturity to interpret the differences among us has overcome us and put in this situation when this is uncalled for. Giving a bad impression during an opportune moment will lead to nowhere.
Both the Central and state Government has greater role in removing the stain from the soul of the people. It is high time to give a careful thought to sort out things if it thinks that Manipur really deserve a chance rather than short-lived plans on the agenda of gaining political mileage. Further delay means making things more complex and challenging than what is today.
The conclusion here is that even if there are good opportunities meant for the people not only the platform created by the Sangai festival, chances is high that the opportunities could slip away from hand in the absence of stability.