That the 18th national youth festival, would become a victim of such politics came as a shock to many in official circle. They see no reason in politicising the issue and link it with the special status category. They say that Bihar has lost an opportunity to showcase its multifaceted talents of nearly 5,000 youths from different parts of the country.

The festival was earlier planned to be held in Patna between Jan 12 and 14, 2013. The last time Bihar hosted the youth festival was in Jan 2007.

An official, who wished not be quoted said that youth festivals are big events and the prospects of staging a national show had raised hopes of young talents in the sports and cultural fields of the state. Its cancellation has disappointed them very much. Thousands of young boys and girls were expected to come from other states. They would have turned into our cultural ambassadors, he added.

Incidentally, preparations for the event had started earlier with an estimated fund of Rs six crore, though the actual cost in hosting such a event would be upwards of Rs 10 crore.

Not only that a number of meetings were held and managers of different auditorium in the city asked to stop bookings for the scheduled dates. Even the authorities of a number of schools were asked to provide space for accommodation of the guests. Even a website of the event was planned for the first time, offering online registration facility to the participants. A tender inviting the agencies to create a special website, was floated and a good amount was spent on this process.