Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s latest remark, that the country’s 10 per cent (read upper castes) “hold control over the Army,” is unfortunate, reprehensible, and silly. It is unfortunate because it adds more divisiveness in the political arena and toxicity in public discourse. As it is, political and intellectual elites promote divisive agendas based on religion, region, language, caste, etc.; now, another dimension has been added to the acrimony arising out of the Mandal phenomenon.

What Gandhi said is reprehensible because it unnecessarily drags the armed forces into the political arena, which stinks all the time. At a time when the Narendra Modi government and the military are focused on defence preparedness against the backdrop of an increasingly hostile and jihadist Pakistanis and the treacherous Chinese, the least India can afford is an unnecessary controversy about the armed forces. The remark is also silly because it is likely to boomerang on the Congress, which has been striving to cobble together a united Opposition against the mighty Bharatiya Janata Party. Luminaries of the grand old party keep accusing the Narendra Modi government and BJP-RSS leaders of following policies and programmes that polarise the country, so it doesn’t behove well that the most important Congress leader himself promotes a divisive agenda.

Quite apart from the incongruity of Gandhi’s views, there is also the matter of their impact on the GOP’s electoral prospects. Had it been positive, his views, however reprehensible, could have been understandable, though not justifiable. As they say colloquially, ‘Ganda hai par dhandha hai (This is not nice, but we have to do it).’

Unsurprisingly, BJP leaders have pounced upon the Congress over his statement. Party spokesperson Suresh Nakhua posted on X, “Rahul Gandhi is now searching for caste in the Armed Forces and says 10 per cent of people control it. In his hate for PM Modi, he has already crossed the line into hating India.” The reaction does contain a kernel of truth.

Another BJP spokesperson, Sanju Verma, also deployed interesting wordplay to slam Rahul Gandhi: “Rahul Gandhi is shamelessly devious and deviously shameless. Listening to him in this clip leaves no doubt that this failed, forever-in-waiting PM is desperately trying to polarize. Now he is trying to divide the Army on caste lines—what an unhinged wreck this Leader of Opposition is. Disgraceful.”

Rahul Gandhi’s problem is that he is unable to shrug off socialism and pinkish advisers. Like his mother Sonia Gandhi, he has surrounded himself with Left-leaning intellectuals and activists who are more interested in promoting socialism, a globally discredited ideology, rather than boosting the electoral prospects of the party (the Congress) they claim to be part of. Their resistance against the BJP is ideological, not political.

It must be mentioned here that Sonia Gandhi, despite her proximity to professional revolutionaries, never lost sight of the political goal; that was the reason that she came to power in 2004 (Though not de jure, she was the de facto ruler till 2014. Not for nothing was she called ‘super-prime minister’).

She lost power because she gradually but increasingly started relying on the coterie, innocuously named National Advisory Council—a circus comprising unrepentant Marxists, anti-business activists, green terrorists, and sundry bleeding hearts. It is time Rahul Gandhi realised that more polarisation will help neither the nation nor his party.