‘He came on his own will’: NEIF Chief denies allegations, says Garg visit was personal

Guwahati, Sep 20: Popular singer Zubeen Garg had travelled to Singapore to relax and not solely attend the North East India Festival (NEIF), its chief organiser, Shyamkanu Mahanta claimed.

The three-day festival, scheduled to begin on Friday, was cancelled following Zubeen's sudden death while "swimming in the sea without a life jacket".

"Zubeen had told the festival organising team that he wanted to go to Singapore and we arranged for his stay at a hotel," Mahanta stated from the island nation.

"He had not come just for the festival but had also made his own plans with members of the Assam Association in Singapore," he added

Clarifying speculations around his role, Mahanta stated that Zubeen was not epxected to give a full-fledged performance but had planned to interact with people and sing informally.

“He didn't bring his entire team, only his cousin Sandeepan Garg, his manager Siddhartha Sharma and one musician, Shekhar Jyoti Goswami, accompanied him", he said.

Mahanta also rejected claims that the organisers had pushed Zubeen to perform.

"We had not asked him to perform at the festival. Zubeen always attended our events voluntarily, whether in India or abroad, because he felt it was his duty to represent the Northeast and spread a positive message about the region," he said.

Mahanta claimed that a section of people was trying to peddle a false narrative. In another statement he said, "I want to make it clear that Zubeen Garg had come on his own free will. There are videos circulating on social media claiming that he had already performed in Singapore, which is not true as our event was scheduled to begin on Friday and he had not participated in any event before the mishap occurred".

He added that the organisers were unaware of the yacht trip Zubeen took with members of the Assam Association in Singapore.

"We were holding back-to-back meetings with various stakeholders at a hotel far from the site when the news reached us. We immediately rushed to the Singapore General Hospital," he said.

"Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has also mentioned that I was not present with Zubeen during the incident," Mahanta stated. Clearing air on allegations, he expressed that there is another narrative that NEIF is a business venture which is "false".

"NEIF is about connecting Northeast India with Southeast Asia to promote industry, trade, tourism and agricultural products from the region. After our Thailand festival, a direct flight between Bangkok and Guwahati was introduced," he said.

The aim is to create a market for the products of Northeast India in the ASEAN countries in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of the Act East policy, he said.

"The chief ministers of the northeastern states have been guests and more than Assam, it is the entrepreneurs from the other states of the region who participate in the events," he said.

The NEIF is committed to "take music, dance, cuisine, fashion and all other aspects of our culture to Southeast Asia, which has many similarities with our northeastern states", Mahanta said.

The first edition of NEIF was held in Bangkok in 2019 and again in the same city after a gap of two years in 2022 while the third edition was held in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City in 2023.

This year's edition was expected to mark the 60th anniversary of India–Singapore diplomatic relations and also coincided with the India-ASEAN Year of Tourism.

PTI