Rahul Gandhi 

(Hindi: राहुल गांधी) (born 19 June 1970) is an Indian politician and member of the Parliament of India, representing

the Amethiconstituency.[1] His political party is the Indian National Congress.[2] He belongs to the Nehru-Gandhi family, the most

prominent political family in India. In 2009 He turned down a cabinet post in the Manmohan Singh government.

Contents

 [hide]

1 Early life

2 Career

o 2.1 Early career

o 2.2 Political career

 2.2.1 2009

Elections

o 2.3 Criticism

o 2.4 Austerity Drive

3 See also

4 References

5 External links

[edit]Early life

Rahul Gandhi was born in New Delhi, the first amongst 2 children of Rajiv Gandhi, former Prime Minister of India and Italian-

born Sonia Gandhi, the current Congress President. He is the elder brother of Priyanka Gandhi. His grandmother was Prime

Minister Indira Gandhi. His great-grandfather, Jawaharlal Nehru, was the first Prime Minister of India, and his great-great-

grandfather Motilal Nehru was a distinguished leader of the Indian independence movement[3].

He attended Modern School, New Delhi[4] before entering the The Doon School,also his father's alma mater,[5] from 1981-83 before

being home-schooled for security reasons.[6] Starting university at Harvard and eventually got his B.A. from Rollins

College, Florida in 1994[7]. He received an MPhil in Development Studies in 1995 from Trinity College, Cambridge.[8] Rahul whose

mother Sonia is a practicing Roman Catholic is himself a Christian. In 2004, he was reported to have been dating Veronica, an

architect from Spain. The two met while at university. It is not known whether he is still in that relationship.[9]

[edit]Career

[edit]Early career

Rahul Gandhi, after graduating worked with management guru, Michael Porter's Management consulting firm, Monitor Group[10]. for

three years. His colleagues at the firm had no idea who they were working with— as he was using an assumed name. He returned

to India in late 2002 to run an engineering and technology outsourcing firm in Mumbai[11].

[edit]Political career
In 2003, there was widespread media speculation about Rahul Gandhi's imminent entry into national politics, which he did not

confirm.[12] He appeared with his mother at public events and Congress meetings.[12] He also traveled to Pakistan on a goodwill visit

to watch the first cricket series between the countries in 14 years in a One Day International with his sister Priyanka Gandhi.[13]

Speculation heightened in January 2004 about his and his sister's possible entry into politics when they visited their father's former

constituency of Amethi, which their mother held at the time. He refused to give a definitive response, stating "I am not averse to

politics. I have not decided when I will enter politics and indeed, if I ever will."[14]

In March 2004, he announced his entry into politics by announcing that he would contest the May 2004 elections, standing for his

father's former constituency of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha, India's lower house of Parliament.[15] Before that, his

uncle Sanjay held the seat before a plane crash. The seat had been held by his mother until she transferred to the neighbouring

seat of Rae Bareilly. The Congress had been doing poorly in Uttar Pradesh, holding only 10 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state

at the time.[14] At the time, this move generated surprise among political commentators, who had regarded his sister Priyanka as

being the more charismatic and likely to succeed. Party officials did not have a CV ready for the media, such was the surprise of his

move. It generated speculation that the presence of a young member of India's most famous political family would reinvigorate the

Congress party's political fortunes among India's youthful population[16] In his first interview with foreign media, he portrayed himself

as a uniter of the country and condemned "divisive" politics in India, saying that he would try to reduce caste and religious tensions.
[15]
 His candidacy was greeted with excitement by locals, who had a long standing affinity with the family's presence in the area.[14] ,

Politician of Indian National Congress He won with a landslide majority, retaining the family stronghold with a margin of over

100,000 as the Congress unexpectedly defeated the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.[17] His campaign was directed by his younger

sister, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.[citation needed] Till 2006 he held no other office and concentrated mainly on constituency issues and the

politics of Uttar Pradesh, and it was widely speculated in the Indian and international press that Sonia Gandhi is trying to groom him

for a chance to become a national-level Congress leader in the future.[18]

In January 2006, at a convention of the Indian National Congress in Hyderabad, thousands of party members asked for Gandhi to

take a more prominent leadership role in the party and demanded that he address the delegates. He said "I appreciate and I am

grateful for your feelings and support. I assure you I will not let you down", but asked for patience and declined to immediately seek

a higher profile role.[19]

Gandhi and his sister (married to Robert Vadra) managed their mother's campaign for reelection to Rae Bareilly in 2006, which was

won easily with a margin greater than 400,000 votes.[20]

He was a prominent figure in a high profile Congress campaign for the 2007 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections; Congress, however,

won only 22 seats with 8.53% of votes. The election saw the Bahujan Samaj Party, which represents low caste Indians, to become

the first party to govern in its own right in Uttar Pradesh for 16 years.[21]

Rahul Gandhi was appointed a general secretary of the All India Congress Committee on 24 September 2007 in a reshuffle of the

party secretariat.[22] In the same reshuffle, he was also given charge of the Youth Congress and the National Students Union of

India.[23]
In his attempt to prove himself as a youth leader in November 2008 he held interviews at his 12, Tughlak Lane residence in New

Delhi to handpick at least 40 people who will make up the think-tank of the Indian Youth Congress (IYC), an organisation that he has

been keen to transform since he was appointed general secretary in September 2007.[24]

Rahul Gandhi participated in an interactive session with students of Jawaharlal Nehru University, India. The Universtity student

unions have been traditionally dominated by the Left. His party, INC, however, was quick to play up Rahul's visit to JNU as an

“excellent example of youth participation in politics”. Rahul's grandmother, Indira Gandhi had to face huge opposition from Left

student unions during her visit to the university campus in 1982 because of her decision to impose emergency.[25] Rahul was

quizzed by the students on issues ranging from hiearchial politics in India, to his visits to Dalit Houses, economic growth in the

country and education reforms. Some papers, however, reported Rahul's visit to JNU as a political attempt to strengthen the newly

constituted unit of NSUI at JNU.[25]

[edit]2009 Elections

In the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, he retained his Amethi constutuency by defeating his nearest rival by a margin of over 333,000

votes. In these elections congress is said to have revived itself in Uttar Pradesh by winning 21 out of the total 80 Lok Sabha seats

and the majority of the credit for this turnaround is given to Rahul Gandhi.[26] He spoke at 125 rallies across the country in six weeks.

He is referred to as RG in party circles.[27]

[edit]Criticism

Rahul Gandhi's legal affairs team responded, when Newsweek alleged in late 2006 that he had not completed his degrees

at Harvard and Cambridge or kept his job at the Monitor Group, they were slapped with a legal notice, following which they hastily

retracted or qualified their earlier statements.[28]

Rahul Gandhi counted the 1971 break-up of Pakistan among his family's "achievements". Though this is a misconception this

statement invited criticism from several political parties in India, as well as from notable people in Pakistan including the Foreign

Office spokesperson[29]. Well-known historian Irfan Habib remarked that the comments were "..an insult to theBangladesh

movement." [30]

During the Uttar Pradesh election campaign in 2007 he said that "if anyone from the Gandhi-Nehru family had been active in politics

then, the Babri Masjid would not have fallen". This was interpreted as an attack on P.V. Narasimha Rao, the Prime Minister during

the demolition of the mosque in 1992. Gandhi's statement triggered a controversy with some members of BJP, the Samajwadi

Party and the Left dubbing him as both "anti-Hindu" and "anti-Muslim"[31]. His remarks on freedom fighters and the Nehru-Gandhi

family have been criticized by BJP leaderVenkaiah Naidu who asked "Will the Gandhi family take responsibility for imposition of

emergency?"[32]

In late 2008, an apparent snub to Rahul Gandhi revealed the power wielded by him. Gandhi was prevented from using the

auditorium at the Chandra Shekhar Azad Agriculture University to address students, as a result of political manipulation by the Chief

Minister Ms. Mayawati[33]. Subsequently, the Vice-Chancellor of the university, V.K. Suri, was ousted by the Governor Shri T.V.

Rajeswar (who is also the Chancellor), a Gandhi family supporter and appointer of Mr. Suri.[34]. The incident was cited as evidence
of the politicization of education, and a cartoon in the Times of India by Ajit Ninan went: "Dynasty related questions are answered by

Rahulji’s foot soldiers."[35]

His admission to St Stephen's College was controversial as he was admitted on the basis of his abilities as a

competitive pistol shooter, which was disputed.[6] He left the College in 1990, after one year of education.[4]

His statement that during his year-long stay at his college St Stephen, students who asked questions in class “were looked down

upon” evoked a strict denial from his college. He said that when he was studying at St Stephen’s College, asking a question was not

(perceived to be) good in our class and one was looked down upon if you asked too many questions. Teachers at the college said

Gandhi’s statement could at best be “his personal experience” and not a ground for generalisation of the academic environment at

St Stephen’s.[36]

In January 2009 he was severely criticised for the "Poverty Tourism Tour," which he had with British Foreign Secretary David

Miliband, in a village near Amethi, his parliamentary constituency in Uttar Pradesh. It was further considered as "greatest diplomatic

disaster" because of Miliband unsolicited advice on terrorism and Pakistan as well as the way he conducted himself in his closed-

door meetings with Mr. Mukherjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.[37]

[edit]Austerity Drive

Rahul Gandhi had advised austerity for all the Congress members and claims to wear simple clothes and not waste money. He said

it is the duty of all politicians to be austere.[38] It is alleged that he has a personal biking track as well as one for go-karting.[39] Rahul

Gandhi has a ministerial bungalow (He is only a 2-term MP), and a fully equipped gym at home. He is a regular member of at least

two of the Delhi's poshest gyms, and one of them is 5-star.[40] Rahul Gandhi's trip to Chennai to campaign for austerity cost the party

Rs 1 Crore.[41] Rahul Gandhi took a train in AC chair car to Ludhiana and saved Rs 445. [42] Rahul Gandhi traveled back to New Delhi

in the Swarn Shatabdi Express, which was stoned for unknown reasons.[43]. His recent visit to Kerala invited much criticism despite

the fact that he traveled class. Six bullet proof cars were brought in for his visit from Delhi.