'When I was a little boy…': Rahul Gandhi recalls grandmother Indira's lesson in ‘truth’, hails women as ‘central force’

CAlling women “a telephone exchange and impulsive drive” for the rural area, Leader of oppositeness Rahul Gandhi said on the Lok Sabha on Friday that he had been taught by his grandmother, the late ex-PM Indira Gandhi, a powerful lesson when he was a child.“When I was a little boy, I used to be very scared of darkness. We used to have this huge dog, who used to attack my sister (Priyanka Gandhi Vadra) and me all the time. We were scared of going out in the darkness,” he said in his speech on the women's quota amendment bill.'She caught my hand…'“One day my grandmother found out. And I am saying this because it was one of the most powerful lessons taught to me in my life by a woman, by a grandmother,” he said, recounting, “My parents had gone out for dinner. She caught my hand, took me out to the dark garden. She left me, and said, ‘stay here, do not move’. And she left. I watched her go, she was wearing a yellow sari I remember. I thought I was done for. (Meri hawa nikal gayi, main toh gaya!)”He said he did not have the courage to tell her he did not want to stay put“She went away for 1-2 minutes. For me it was 2-3 hours. I was imagining the dog coming to bite me; I was imagining ghosts, snakes... She came back and asked, me 'What are you scared of?' I said, 'Dadi, I am scared of that dog, I am scared of somebody being in garden; bats; snakes. I am scared of things I cannot see,” he added.“She said, ‘No, Rahul, you are not scared of the darkness or the dogs or bats. You are only scared of your mind, your imagination, and what you are thinking’,” he recalled.He further added, “And then she said, ‘You should not be scared of the darkness; the truth most often is in the darkness. If you do not have the courage to face fears, to go into darkness, you will not be able to understand truth’.”A lesson for lifeHe said it was a political lesson, he though years later; but “it was fundamentally a religious lesson: Satyam Shivam Sundaram”.‘Satyam Shivam Sundaram’ is a Sanskrit phrase literally translating to ‘truth, goodness, and beauty’. In Hindu philosophy, it represents the concept that ultimate truth is divine, and inherently beautiful, often used to describe the nature of Lord Shiva.Rahul and his party have opposed the linkage of the women's quota, passed originally with their support in 2023, with delimitation, that is, increasing and redrawing Lok Sabha seats.The BJP-led NDA government led by PM Narendra Modi does not have the two-third majority for the constitutional amendment to pass.