Former Union minister P. Chidambaram on Saturday said that who was participating in the citizenship protests was more important than who was leading them, playing down the question of whether the Congress should look to lead the movement.

“The movement is being led by the people of India. Grassroots people have taken over the leadership,” the Congress veteran told The Telegraph on the sidelines of a news conference at the Bengal Congress office.

He emphasised that it was a “spontaneous” people’s movement and flagged the fight put up by women protesters at Park Circus Maidan.

“Yesterday in Park Circus, I found a Muslim homemaker (as the) virtual leader of the movement there. Students have taken over the leadership of the movement. The youth have taken over the leadership of the movement,” he said.

“So it is not who is leading the movement; the issue is who is participating in the movement. The Congress has clearly stated in its resolution (that) all Congress workers must stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of India protesting the CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) and NPR (National Population Register).”

Told that some were asking whether the Congress could do a Janata Party that had brought all the Opposition forces together during the Emergency in the mid-1970s, he said the situation now didn’t call for a formal leadership.

“(The present situation) is some kind of an undeclared Emergency, but the present situation is not that for anyone to lead the movement,” he said.

Chidambaram denied the BJP allegation that the Congress was sponsoring the protest at Shaheen Bagh in Delhi: “Shaheen Bagh is an impromptu protest. It’s a spontaneous mobilisation of people living in that area; nobody has to sponsor it.”

He said the struggle had thrown up a new dimension — people were fighting for intangible ideas and not concrete concessions.

“Today they are fighting for intangible ideas like liberalism, equality, equal protection of laws, and constitutional morality and not for concrete things like roads, a hostel-fee rollback or more pension,” he said.

“I’m proud (that) more than any other section of the people, (it’s) students, youths, women and children (who) are fighting for these very, very important ideas. That gives me great hope for this country. This country will pass into safe hands.”

Asked about Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee distancing herself from the larger Opposition unity, he said: “My appeal to Mamata Banerjee is that whatever may be the intra-state differences, what is at stake at the national level is a very grave matter, namely, the integrity (and) morality of India’s Constitution. So, for the sake of India’s constitutional morality she should join the Opposition’s fight.”

On Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad’s criticism of the Opposition for lacking unity, Chidambaram said: “Cohesion will not come about in one day. The issues at stake are grave issues — we can fight separately; we can also fight together. It’s better that we fight together. Twenty parties did respond to Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s invitation and attended the (January 13) meeting.”

Reminded that it was under him as UPA home minister that the NPR was planned, he said: “NPR 2010 and NPR 2020 are as different as cheese and chalk.”

He added: “NPR 2010 was suggested by the (then) census commissioner as an aid to the census he was going to do in 2011…. (He said), ‘The Vajpayee government’s amendment requires me to do the NPR. Let me combine the two and do it’. We said, ‘All right’. Then the census was done in 2011 and the matter ended there. We did not even utter ‘NRC’.”