<p>Caste and communal violence dominate internal security concerns. And the government is losing ground on relations with Pakistan and China</p>

- Sandeep Unnithan

A SIGNIFICANT ACHIEVEMENT of the NDA government has been a robust response to cross-border terrorism. It might not have succeeded in getting the Pakistan army to turn off the terror tap, but what it has managed to do is to draw a red line, to indicate that attacks like those at Pathankot and Uri will come at a cost.

For the first time in nearly four years, cross-border terrorism has dropped to second place among perceived threats to internal security, with 22 per cent of the MOTN respondents finding it a significant threat. This drop is the sharpest since January 2017 when 44 per cent of respondents believed it was threat number one. What has displaced terrorism is something that causes greater worry—caste violence. Twenty-seven per cent respondents felt growing caste violence was the biggest threat to the country’s internal security. (It was not even an option in this question in the last MOTN in January 2018.) Their fears are not unfounded. Since 2015, at least four major communities—Gujjars, Jats, Patidars and now the Marathas— have stepped up their demand for reservations. In Gujarat, 14 persons were killed and hundreds of buses torched in July 2015, following a police crackdown on Patidars agitating for reservations. In March 2016, Jats demanding OBC status went on the rampage damaging property and holding the state to ransom for 10 days. The origins of such

Dit verhaal komt uit de August 27, 2018-editie van India Today.

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