India, April 17 -- Calling women "a central and driving force" for the country, Leader of Opposition 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.

"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 dinn...