Manipur tribal forum calls for muted Christmas and New Year celebrations, asks people to ‘stay alert’

The Democratic Student Alliance Manipur dismisses ITLF’s concern as baseless, says Meiteis have peacefully coexisted with indigenous communities like Nagas.

2 min readAgartalaDec 13, 2023 10:24 PM IST

The ITLF advisory also asked people to limit outdoor activities by finishing games like futsal by 8 pm and closing shops and food stalls around that time.

The Indigenous Tribal Leader’s Forum (ITLF), a conglomerate of recognised tribes in Lamka in Manipur’s Churachandpur district, on Wednesday called for muted Christmas and New Year celebrations.

In an “advisory”, ITLF media and publicity executive Ginza Vualzong said the forum has requested people not to indulge in “overtly conspicuous” celebrations and that all communities and churches were asked to have only the normal church service and not to organise feasts and fellowship events, or ‘lengkhawm’.

The ITLF advisory also asked people to limit outdoor activities by finishing games like futsal by 8 pm and closing shops and food stalls around that time. It also asked all citizens to “stay alert” and “be prepared” for any disturbance, especially during Christmas and New Year due to the “prevailing atmosphere” in the state, referring to the violence that claimed 175 lives and injured over 1,100 injured in four months till September.

Reacting to the advisory, Democratic Student Alliance Manipur general secretary Leishangtshem Lambyanba said the ITLF was “falsely using ‘indigenous’ to describe itself” and that Meiteis had peacefully coexisted with indigenous communities like Nagas.

Any concern over Christmas or New Year celebrations is baseless, Lamyanba said. “We are coexisting with many indigenous people like Nagas. They always want to divide people, sow hatred and create chaos. We don’t take their advisory very seriously. We know how and why they are reacting to the situation. We already know their objectives. We don’t want to comment on them. Let the people from all ethnic communities decide what to do,” he added.

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