From the ancient lanes of Cuttack and the crowded markets of Balasore to the quiet streets of Berhampur, a string of violent incidents has laid bare Odisha’s deepening law and order crisis. What should have been a time of celebration has instead descended into curfews, shutdowns and fear.

The administration insists that preventive steps are in place, yet the sequence of events—communal violence in Cuttack, a night curfew in Balasore and a political murder in Berhampur—has stirred public anxiety and political outrage, raising uncomfortable questions about whether Odisha’s security machinery remains capable of keeping the peace.

Cuttack, the thousand-year-old city known as the cultural heart of the state and long celebrated for its communal harmony, found itself paralysed by fear over the

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