The season’s first big snowfall in Kashmir on Monday quietened its vast swathes but not Rahul Gandhi, who stood in the open in Srinagar’s Shere Kashmir stadium and publicly denounced Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Ajit Doval and the RSS as instigators of violence who cannot understand the pain it inflicts.

He dovetailed the fallout of violence with his own personal loss, answering a question that has been relentlessly pursuing the Bharat Jodo Yatra since its launch: why?

Explaining in stark terms that Kashmiris — as well as families of security forces from across the country who are despatched to the Valley — can relate to, Rahul said the mission of his Yatra was to end the dreaded phone calls that “no child, mother or son should get”.

At a rally that marked the conclusion of the almost five-month-long Yatra, Rahul said pain was what was common among “us” — the Kashmiris, the families of soldiers, and his own family.

“Those who are behind the violence, like Modiji, Amit Shahji or Ajit Dovalji, the people of RSS, cannot understand this, they cannot understand pain. But we can understand it,” he said, fighting back tears when he recounted receiving phone calls that told him his grandmother and his father were dead.

Kashmir had on Monday woken up to a thick blanket of snow, leading to speculation that the public meeting might be cancelled. But the Congress tweeted pictures and a video of Rahul and his sister Priyanka enjoying the snow and throwing snowballs at each other, setting the tone for the finale.

Rahul hoisted the Tricolour at the Congress headquarters in the morning in the presence of party leaders and workers and then headed to the stadium, around 2km away.

The weather did play spoilsport as the snow forced most residents to stay indoors and the crowd was smaller than expected. The flights to Srinagar were cancelled, perhaps hitting the plans of hosting a grand show of Opposition unity.

But Rahul delivered a powerful message that seemed to have struck a chord in the country, more so in Kashmir.

Former Reuters correspondent Sheikh Mushtaq, who has widely covered Kashmir, said he could see a strange smile on the faces of many Kashmiris that was “missing” for years.

“Lots of people joined him during the last few days but lots more did not. But I could see so many smiling faces for the first time after the 2019 scrapping of (special status under) Article 370. People connected to him and his speeches in a big way, hoping he can usher some change,” Mushtaq told this newspaper.

Rahul had said at the rally: “I know what went through the hearts of the children of the slain Pulwama soldiers; I have been there. I know what it is like when people in Kashmir die and the phone (of their families) starts ringing. I understand it, my sister understands it.

“Those who have not seen and suffered violence, like Modiji, Amit Shah ji or the RSS people, won’t understand it.”

Rahul recounted the phone call he had received in school as a14-year-old boy, telling him his grandmother had been shot. Bringing out a mobile from his pocket, Rahul said what was just a phone for everyone, was a bringer of pain for the families of victims of violence. He spoke of the phone call he received on “May 21” (1991) that told him his father was dead.

Families of thousands of Kashmiris, and those of soldiers from the CRPF, the BSF and the Indian Army have received the dreaded phone calls, he said. “The goal of the Yatra is that such calls should stop. No child, mother or son should get such calls,” Rahul added.

Rahul recalled his 3,570km journey from Kanyakumari and how a football injury suffered on his knee as a student had resurfaced and made the walk difficult, shattering his pride since he had expected it to be easy given his fitness regimen.

The Congress leader spoke about Kashmiriyat (brotherhood of communities) and its different versions all across the country. What was Shunyata in Shaivism was Fanaa in Islam —an assault on your own ego and weaknesses and not on others— and these were intertwined in Kashmir, as elsewhere in the country, he said.

The Yatra is a fight against an ideology that is out to “break the foundations of this country”, he said.

Former chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti were among leaders who spoke before Rahul.

“Rahul ji, this is your home. I hope that whatever has been taken from Jammu and Kashmir and this country, by Godse’s ideology, will be returned by a Gandhi. Not just to Jammu and Kashmir, but to the whole country,” Mehbooba said.

Monday was the 75th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination by Nathuram Godse.

Omar said the impression has gone out that there was “only one thinking in this country, that of Sangh parivar, which is communal. But this Yatra has proved that “there are those also who want brotherhood.”

Rahul said he was warned not to walk in Kashmir, with the administration saying he could be a victim of a hand grenade attack. “But I thought I was going home and would walk in the midst of my family. I thought, why not give an opportunity to those who hate me to turn my white T-shirt red. My family has taught me and Gandhi has taught us that we should live without fear or not live,” he said.

“The people of Jammu and Kashmir did not throw hand grenades at me. They gave me love and hugged me. I am very happy they saw me as their own. Young people and elders and children greeted me with tears,” Rahul said.

Rahul repeated his challenge to BJP leaders to walk in Kashmir, and predicted they would not do it. “Not because people of Jammu and Kashmir will not allow them but because they are scared,” he said.