With Ujjain's 68th All India Kalidas Festival opening on 21 November, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Dr. Mohan Yadav convened a planning meeting at the state secretariat on Tuesday, 29 September, directing the festival's central committee to centre the event on the state's own literary and artistic talent — and to leave no performer behind.

What the Chief Minister told the committee

Speaking to central committee members, Dr. Yadav issued clear instructions: programmes spotlighting Madhya Pradesh's distinguished personalities must form an integral part of the festival schedule. He called for the inclusion of the state's eminent lyricists, litterateurs, senior theatre artists, and directors, alongside dedicated space for youth participation. His directive, translated from Hindi, read: 'Pradesh ki pratibhaon ko avsar den' — 'Give the state's talents an opportunity.'

The CM also pushed for online and offline art competitions to widen the festival's reach beyond the physical venue in Ujjain. Representatives of regional dialects and languages are to be given a platform, and a police band performance is to be incorporated into the programme lineup — an unusual but deliberate gesture toward institutional participation in a classical arts setting.

Ujjain and the Kalidas legacy

Ujjain, the ancient city on the banks of the Kshipra river in western Madhya Pradesh, has hosted the All India Kalidas Festival for decades. The event is named after Kalidasa, the classical Sanskrit poet and dramatist widely regarded as India's greatest literary figure, who is traditionally associated with the city. The festival serves as the country's foremost annual platform for Sanskrit literature, classical theatre, and allied performing arts.

Madhya Pradesh has long used the festival as a vehicle for cultural diplomacy within the country — drawing scholars, theatre troupes, and musicians from across India to Ujjain each November. The 68th edition marks another chapter in that decades-long tradition.

Regional languages and youth at the centre

The most pointed signal in Tuesday's meeting was the explicit direction to include voices from Madhya Pradesh's regional dialect communities — a state that is home to a rich mosaic of spoken traditions including Malwi, Bundeli, Bagheli, and Nimadi. Bringing their representatives onto the Kalidas stage alongside classical Sanskrit programming is a deliberate broadening of the festival's cultural mandate.

The dual push for online and offline competitions further signals an intent to make the 68th Kalidas Samaroh the most accessible edition yet — pulling in participants who cannot travel to Ujjain but can still compete and engage digitally.

The final programme schedule and confirmed participation lists are expected ahead of the 21 November opening — and when they arrive, they will show whether the Chief Minister's broad directives translate into a genuinely transformed festival or another well-intentioned blueprint.