I lost my mother when I was 10. When crises confront me as they must every citizen, I wonder whether I would have lived up to my mother’s expectations had she been alive now.

The answer is not easy for two reasons. One, the obvious: I am not perfect in any sense of the word. Two, the less apparent: at 10, not many would get to know what their mothers would want them to be.

I compensate by playing a game. When I meet a ‘successful’ fellow citizen, I run through an imaginary checklist to figure out whether the person would have checked the unknown boxes my mother might have set. Invariably, I have come across something or the other that would let me down which I construe as letting my mother down.

My search for my mother’s perfect daughter or son ended on a train this Monday, July 1, 2024. Frequently cut off by the erratic signal strength along the tracks, I heard in fits and starts Rahul Gandhi speak during the debate on the motion of thanks to the president’s address.

In spite of the wayward signal and the disruptions by the Treasury benches, the words came through with a clarity I have rarely heard in the 34 years of my career in journalism.

By now, you must have come across countless analyses of Rahul’s speech, dissecting to the bone and discussing threadbare the innumerable facets of what must rank as one of the most important statements delivered in the Indian Parliament since Independence.

I heard in the speech something more basic and fundamental than mere political strategy and tactics. For me, the speech was a declaration of who we should be. Or, what my mother, every mother, would want their daughters and sons to be.

The rock-solid foundation on which Rahul built the framework of an India of the future was the repudiation of fear. “Fear not, scare not” was the mantra he sprang on the idea represented by Narendra Modi and his cohort. Rahul spoke of how fear has seeped into every section of society — farmers, youth, women, students, Muslims and other minorities and even among the Bharatiya Janata Party’s acolytes.

In order to communicate that message to the country, Rahul chose some of the most powerful influencers in history, seeking to beat Modi at his own game. Confronted with the images whose peripheral common thread the BJP had assumed it had monopolised, Modi and his friends did not know how to address the sledgehammer message: fear not, scare not.

Spoon-fed on an ideology that window-dressed itself with motifs, not morality, of faith, Modi was at a loss on how to counter Rahul’s narrative other than quoting chapter and verse from the rulebook that has often been disrespected in the past decade.

Modi and his cheerleaders tried to suggest that Rahul insulted all Hindus, misconstruing his statement. But in an extraordinary dis­play of quick wit and clarity of thought, Rahul emphatically dec­lared “nahi, nahi, nahi…” and went on to name unequivocally those who do not represent the whole Hindu society. “Nahi, nahi, nahi… Narendra Modi ji poora Hindu samaj nahi hai, BJP poora Hindu samaj nahi hai, RSS poora Hindu samaj nahi hai,” Rahul said.

This is a message that the Congress should have hammered home long ago. But the timidity that marked the Congress’s response for years had allowed the BJP to style itself as the saviour of Hindus. By telling it as it is to Modi’s face, Rahul has now crystallised a robust course correction.

Rahul was relentless, following up rapidly with what eventually became a trishul of ideas: absence of fear, topped with courage and non-violence. Not courage of the kind that is celebrated in testosterone-driven fiction but courage defined by non-violence, the ultimate form of valour that India chose to forget somewhere along the way in the journey embarked on during the freedom movement.

And then Rahul said something that raised the bar through the roof for future leaders: you need to make others shed fear and embrace non-violence.

Rahul was not peddling bleeding-heart one-liners but he based his framework on the belief that nothing flies above democracy. Towards the end, his advice to the Speaker that he should not bow before anyone as long as he is the custodian of the House is the guiding force that steers Rahul’s politics. If you do not believe in the highest ideals of democracy, how will you convince a fellow citizen to shed fear and awaken the courage to embrace non-violence?

The challenge is a staggering blow that shakes to the foundations the politics that Modi has followed till now. How will the leader who thrived on polarising citizens make them respect one another? No matter what Modi does now, every action of his would be judged on that touchstone. Of course, miracles can happen and Modi may transform himself. If he does not, history will not forgive him for turning his back on a second chance.

Reams can be written about the laughs Rahul triggered; the knockout punches he landed on Modi who looked lead-footed and sullen; the wordplay on Ayodhya and two business barons; the sorry figure that the protection-seeking Amit Shah cut; and the helplessness that hung heavy over the Speaker, Om Birla, when he came face to face with the image of Lord Shiva. Hair-splitting would also have been done and dusted by now on whether Rahul’s interpretation of the abhaymudra was correct or not.

I think that is not the point — much as critics of Modi would like to gloat in the memory of the overlord licking his wounded hubris.

The point is that Rahul is nudging the leadership to draw from the past to rediscover and rewrite the parameters, if not the pillars, on which India should build its future. He is nudging not just the political and constitutional leadership either. I think the message is addressed to an audience spread far and wide outside the confines of the House.

The formula is not rocket science. And generations that preceded us had already heard it.

*Do not spread fear.

*Do not spew hatred.

*Do not foment violence.

*Do not be fearful.

*Listen to others.

*If someone wants a debate, let it take place. They will love you for facilitating it.

*The Opposition is not your enemy. It is here to make your work easier.

The short-form: respect others. That is the cornerstone of democracy.

These may sound like lofty principles better suited for preaching than practising. But we have tried every other ‘pragmatic’ trick and it has not worked.

Rahul Gandhi is offering us a choice between fear and valour, violence and non-violence, truth and untruth.

What would we want our children to choose? Without knowing my mother beyond the precious 10 years, I have no doubt what she would have wanted her children to choose.

Neither do I doubt who my mother’s favourite pick would have been although not born to her.

R. Rajagopal is editor-at-large, The Telegraph