Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday alleged that the operation against Maoists in Chhattisgarh, in which 22 security personnel were killed, was “incompetently” executed and “poorly designed”.

“Our jawans are not cannon fodder to be martyred at will,” Gandhi said on Twitter and demanded that each Indian jawan be given body armour for protection. Out of the 22 fatalities in the Saturday Maoist attack in the state, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) lost eight men, including seven CoBRA commandos, while one jawan is from the Bastariya battalion, eight from the DRG and five from the Special Task Force.