‘Mind your business,’ Chidambaram tells Army Chief Rawat for remarks on CAA protests

“Now, the Army General is being asked to speak up. Is it the job of the Army General? The DGP (of Uttar Pradesh)… 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,” Chidambaram was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

Editorial | Crossing a line

He emphasised that just as a politician can’t advise the Army on how to fight a war, the Army should also not tell the politicians how to manage the politics of the country. “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.

Wading into the bitter political row over protests against the new citizenship law days before his retirement, General Rawat had criticised those at the head of the protests, saying they were “leading masses”, including university and college students, to carry out arson and violence in cities, and this did not amount to leadership.

“Leaders are not those who lead people in an inappropriate direction. As we are witnessing in a large number of universities and colleges, students, the way they are leading masses and crowds to carry out arson and violence in cities and towns. This is not leadership,” Rawat had said while addressing a gathering at a health summit in New Delhi.

The outgoing Army Chief, who is due to retire on December 31, termed leadership as a “very complex phenomenon” and said, “A leader is one person who leads you in the correct direction. Gives you the right advice and then ensures that you care for the people you live.”