Leaders are not those who lead people in inappropriate direction: Army chief Bipin Rawat on CAA protests, stirs row

General Rawat said, "When a leader moves forward, everybody follows. It is not that simple. It appears simple but it is a complex phenomenon...."

"Leaders are those who lead people in the right direction but not those who lead people in an inappropriate directions as we are witnessing in the large number of college and university students who are leading masses of crowds to carry out arson and violence in cities and towns. This is not leadership."

Following the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, in Parliament, violent protests broke out across the country with Uttar Pradesh recording the maximum number of death.

As per the latest report, at least 20 people have died due to the protests only in Uttar Pradesh.

Countering General Rawat, Congress leader Brijesh Kapalla tweeted, "Army Chief Bipin Rawat speaking against #CAAProtests is wholly against Constitutional democracy. If Army Chief is allowed to speak on Political issues today, it also permits him to attempt an Army takeover tomorrow!!"

Another Congress leader Manish Tiwari said, "Since when have Army Chief’s started commenting about internal affairs .It undermines Civil-Military Relations whose cornerstone is that Armed Forces neither comment or interfere in domestic politics. This has been our singular success going back to 1947."

Several non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Chief Ministers of the country including West Bengal's Mamata Banerjee, Kerala's Pinarayi Vijayan, Rajasthan's Ashok Gehlot, Chhattisgarh's Bhupesh Bhagel have stated they won't allow the implementation of CAA in their respective states.