india

Updated: Aug 13, 2020 13:08 IST

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Saturday asked Army Chief Bipin Rawat to limit himself to his job after the latter questioned the leadership behind the anti-citizenship act protests, which have turned violent in several places across the country.

General Bipin Rawat had on Thursday slammed the protests against the amended citizenship law, saying leaders are not those who “lead people in inappropriate directions”.

On Saturday, Chidambaram reminded the outgoing army chief that politicians do not tell army officials how to do their job.

Watch | ‘Mind your business’, says Chidambaram to Army Chief over CAA protests remark

“The DGP (director general of police) and 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,” Chidambaram said while addressing a Maha Rally of the Congress in Kerala’s capital of Thiruvananthapuram.

“It’s not the business of the army to tell politicians what we should do, just as it’s not our business to tell you how to fight a war,” he added.

Dozens of people have died and many others injured after protests turned violent across the country.

The former Union finance minister said his party’s demand was to suspend the CAA and completely stop the National Register of Citizens (NRC) as he called them “illogical” and “unconstitutional”.

“These are our demands and we will continue to fight until they are met,” the Congress leader said.

“The Citizenship Amendment Act destroys the very basis of our Constitution. If they had two-thirds of majority in Parliament, they would have amended the Constitution,” Chidambaram said.

He also said that since the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre was unable to amend the Constitution, they are doing so through the “backdoor.”

Before Chidambaram’s criticism, General Rawat has been already asked to know the “limits of one’s office” by AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi.

Congress has stepped up its protest against the citizenship law and on Saturday hundreds of party workers, legislators and lawmakers, including the chief of its Kerala unit Mullapally Ramachandran and the leader of opposition in the state assembly Ramesh Chennithala, participated in the rally.

The rally was a part of the “Save The Constitution-Save India” campaign of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in Kerala.