THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Saturday came down heavily on Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat, who had recently criticised people leading violent protests over the Citizenship Amendment Act, asking him to "mind his business."
The former union minister was speaking at the 'Maha Rally" against the new Act, organised by Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) in front of Raj Bhavan here. He also alleged that the Army Chief and the Director General of Police (DGP) of Uttar Pradesh had been asked to support the government and it was a "shame".
"Now, the Army General is being asked to speak up. Is it the job of the Army General?" Chidambaram asked. "The DGP and the Army General are being asked to support the government. It is a shame. Let me appeal to General Rawat. You head the Army and mind your business. What politicians will do, politicians will do. It is not the business of the Army to tell politicians what we should do. Just as it is not our business to tell you how to fight a war. You fight war according to your ideas and we will manage the politics of the country," he said.
Politicians would manage politics and the army does not have the business to tell them what they should do, the Congress veteran added. Critisising the anti-CAA protests, General Rawat had recently said the leadership was not about guiding masses, including students, to carry out arson and violence.
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"Leaders are not those who lead people in inappropriate directions, as we are witnessing in a large number of university and college students, the way they are leading masses of crowds to carry out arson and violence in our cities and towns. This is not leadership," the Army Chief had said at a health summit in New Delhi on Thursday.