Cops in South West Delhi extend olive branch to Jat community

With two days to go for the Jat agitation, the Delhi Police have issued an ultimatum to the protesters and would come out in full force to defend the Capital.

However, the force has also showed its soft side, as in a tactical move, the South West District police have began approaching various Jat communities in the Capital to take them into confidence and dissuade them from protesting.

The rationale for the strategy is that several Jat agitation leaders had announced that their "brothers in Delhi" would help make the blockade successful.

Taking stock of the situation, the South West District has started community outreach programmes in Chawwla and Jaffarpur Kalan villages and sent in senior police officials to camp out in rural areas to keep in touch with the community.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (South-West) Surender Kumar believes that his strategy would work and the call for agitation by Yashpal Malik – national chief of All India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti – would turn out to be a damp squib.

"I have sent in senior police officers, including the Additional Commissioner of police Manoj C, and the local ACPs, SHOs to these villages. The primary motive is to take them into confidence and allay their fears. We have educated them on the differences between political agitation and hooliganism, and they have understood our message," he said.

Kumar enjoys the support of the community as he often takes time out of his busy schedule and visits the interior villages in the district to attend local programmes. However, the strategy behind the outreach is to bring the police to the community's door step and win them over.

Several senior police officials have already covered the 35 odd villages in the district. Moreover, Kumar has taken a step ahead in the outreach and asked his senior officials to camp out in these rural villages.

Manoj C, the Additional Commissioner of Police (South-West), has visited 13 villages in Jaffarpur Kalan, eight in Chhawla and seven in Kapashera.

"Our main aim is to cover maximum villages in the district," he said.

The South West District police have talked to all Panchayat leaders and prominent Jat leaders in the community. Further, senior police officials believe that since the Jats in Delhi have an OBC status, the community will not offer support to an unlawful protest, with last year's violence still fresh in their minds.