Rahul Ghandi was born on 19th June 1970, in an affluent and one of the most prominent families in India. He is the son of former Prime Minister of India, Late Mr. Rajiv Gandhi and Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, present President of Indian National Congress. Rahul Gandhi is fifth generation of Nehru-Gandhi family in politics. He has a younger sister Priyanka Gandhi who actively campaigns for him and their mother in elections but does not hold any formal party rank. Rahul Gandhi is grandson of late Smt. Indira Gandhi and great grandson of late Sh. Jawahar Lal Nehru.
He is presently a Member of Parliament from Amethi constituency in Uttar Pradesh, which is also his father’s former constituency. His mother Mrs. Sonia Gandhi had also fought and won elections from the same constituency. But she moved to nearby constituency Rae Bareli, after Rahul Gandhi’s formal entry in to politics. Apart from this, he is the General Secretary of Indian National Congress and also looks after Indian Youth Congress and National Students Union of India.
He had completed his school education from St. Columba’s School, New Delhi and The Doon School in Dehradun. He had done a major portion of his schooling from home due to security reasons. He joined St. Stephen’s College, New Delhi for his Bachelor’s degree in History Honours in 1989. But later he moved to Harvard University to complete his education. But in 1991 when his father Mr. Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated, he moved to Rollin’s College with a pseudo identity alias Rahul Vinci.
After completing his graduation, Rahul Gandhi worked at the Monitor Group, a management consulting firm, in London. He had also served as one of the directors of Mumbai based technology outsourcing firm, Backops Services Private Ltd.
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Rahul Gandhi is the politician of new age. He has adopted new methods of connecting to people. He often visits common man’s houses in his constituency without any prior information and spends time over there. Listen to their woes and live a life of theirs. Rahul asks his party workers and those in position to follow the same rule. He has gained both popularity among masses and the criticism of his rivals. Some consider it as the best face off with the reality situation while his opponents claim it to be a mere publicity stunt.
Indian National Congress revived itself in 2009 Lok Sabha elections under the guidance of Rahul Gandhi. He won the Amethi constituency with a huge margin of 333,000 votes. While in one incident, on 11th May 2011, Rahul Gandhi was arrested by UP police when he was going to meet agitating farmers in Bhatta Parsaul village. He was later released after 3 hours and sent back to Delhi.
Rahul Gandhi is also known for his strong comments about Hindu terrorism. In Wiki leaks cable it was revealed that he considered certain Hindu organisations as radical groups who are spreading terrorism. These comments met severe criticism from the opposition parties. His opinion on Lok Pal bill was also called as a delaying tactic by the opposition parties. He had advocated creating Lok Pal as an autonomous constitutional body just like the election commission of India. However, that resolution was also not passed by the Lok Sabha.
His party workers see him as a future Prime Minister but Rahul Gandhi have never made any confirmation regarding the matter. He had also kept his personal life totally away from media reporting.