Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on Thursday said a true leader never leads the crowd in an “inappropriate direction” even as protests against the amended citizenship law continue, reported ANI.

Commenting on the violence during anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests across the country, Rawat said, “This is not leadership.” “As we are witnessing in 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.”

The outgoing Army chief, who is due to retire on December 31, has spoken out against the massive nationwide protests against the Citizenship Act for the first time. He was speaking at an event in Delhi. “Leadership is all about leading,,” he said, according to NDTV. “Therefore what is so complex about leadership, if it’s all about leading? Because when you move forward, everybody follows. It is not that simple. It appears simple, but it’s a very complex phenomenon. Even amongst the crowd you find leaders... But leaders are those who lead people in the right direction.”

Violence had erupted following a protest march by Jamia students against the Citizenship Amendment Act on December 15. Buses were set on fire, and several students and police officers were injured. After entering the campus, the police detained around 100 students, who were released around hours later. Videos shared on social media suggested that police officials used guns during the crackdown at Jamia, and allegedly shot at protestors. However, the police have categorically denied firing at protestors.

At least 17 people were killed in Uttar Pradesh, and 24 in the country, over the past two weeks during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act. Over the last week, thousands of protestors were detained across India, with 3,000 detentions in the state of Assam alone, where 329 people were arrested. On December 19, authorities said at least 1,200 people were detained in Delhi.

The Citizenship Amendment Act, passed by Parliament on December 11 and signed into law by President Ram Nath Kovind the following day, provides Indian citizenship to religious minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, who have entered the country on or before December 31, 2014. However, it excludes Muslims from its scope, which has led to the Act being labelled anti-Muslim and unconstitutional.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned the violence in Uttar Pradesh during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act. “I want to ask people who resorted to violence in Uttar Pradesh to sit at home and ask themselves whether what they did is good or not,” Modi had said at the foundation laying ceremony of Atal Bihari Vajpayee Medical University in Lucknow. “They destroyed buses and public property that belongs to their children.”

On Sunday, Modi had blamed the Congress and “urban Naxals” for propagating rumours. The prime minister had appealed to those instigating violence during protests against the amended Citizenship Act to opt for the “path of non-violence”. “Violence will not help anyone, we have to keep away from violence. This is our country, its people are ours,” he said. Modi claimed people were spreading misinformation about the amended law and that the country will not accept “false claims that I’m taking away people’s rights”.