Rahul Gandhi Biography
Rahul Gandhi was born to Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi on the 19th of June, 1970. He currently holds the responsibility of the President of the Indian National Congress. Rahul Gandhi also holds other important offices of responsibility as the Chairperson of the Indian Youth Congress and the National Students’ Union of India. He has previously also held the post of the General Secretary of the All India Congress Committee. Rahul Gandhi represents the parliamentary constituency of Amethi, Uttar Pradesh as a Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha since 2004. Rahul Gandhi became the Vice President of the Indian National Congress in January 2013 before becoming the forerunner of his party on 16th December, 2017. He has previously been a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs and Human Resource Development and also the Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Civil Aviation. He currently serves on the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs. Rahul Gandhi is also a trustee of the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust and the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation.
Early life of Rahul Gandhi
The early days of Rahul Gandhi did not witness a great exposure to the public sphere. Rahul Gandhi grew up under the watchful eyes of his family especially under the impeccable care of his mother Sonia Gandhi. As a boy, Rahul Gandhi focused on accomplishing his education. After the completion of his high school curriculum, he went abroad to have a vibrant educational experience. Amidst his quest for knowledge, there were several instances of security threats to him especially after the inhumane assassination of his father Rajiv Gandhi who at the time was serving as the Prime Minister of India. After completing his higher education, Rahul Gandhi initiated his professional vocation with the Monitor Group, a management consulting firm in London. He subsequently returned to India and established a technology outsourcing firm called Backops Services Private Ltd. in Mumbai where he was one of the directors.
Overview of Rahul Gandhi’s education
The toddler years of Rahul Gandhi were spent in the National capital of Delhi and the serene hills of Dehradun. After attending St. Columbus’ School in New Delhi, Rahul Gandhi was enrolled in The Doon School of Dehradun in the state of Uttarakhand from 1981 to 1983. Rahul Gandhi’s father, Rajiv Gandhi had then entered into politics and had become the Prime Minister on 31st of October, 1984, after the assassination of Smt. Indira Gandhi. On account of the constant and numerous security threats faced by the Late Indira Gandhi’s family, both Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi were later schooled at home. Rahul Gandhi saw himself pursuing his undergraduate studies at St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi before moving to Harvard University in the United States of America. In 1991, the country witnessed the harrowing assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, who lost his life in an election rally. Due to security threats that followed the death of his father, Rahul Gandhi shifted to Rollins College in Florida where he graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in 1994. He went on to pursue and complete his M.Phil from the Trinity College, Cambridge in the year 1995.
Political journey of Rahul Gandhi
In March 2004 Rahul Gandhi announced his entry into Indian politics. Contesting from his father, Late Rajiv Gandhi’s constituency of Amethi, Rahul Gandhi managed a brilliant victory where he swept with an overwhelming margin of more than one lakh votes. Soon after, in his first interview to the foreign media as a political candidate, Rahul Gandhi vocally condemned the divisive politics indulged by the other parties where he promised to commit himself to become a binding force among all communities and parties and ease out the strains that arose from matters of caste and faith. On 24th of September during a reorganization of the party secretariats, Rahul Gandhi was appointed the General Secretary of the All India Congress Committee. He also took over the responsibilities of the National Students’ Union of India and the Indian Youth Congress; both of which witnessed an exponential growth under his leadership. He soon found himself to be the second in command as the Vice president of the Indian National Congress in January of 2013. Throughout his political journey, Rahul Gandhi has been an ardent representative of the underprivileged and the economically backward sections of society. On the 11th of May, 2011 in the village of Bhatta Parsaul in the state of Uttar Pradesh, he was arrested by the police for lending his support to the protesting farmers who were rightfully claiming a greater compensation on account of their land acquisition by the authorities for a highway project. 2014 elections witnessed a third term victory for Rahul Gandhi from Amethi. This victory, in its essence, represented the trust and faith that the people of his constituency had in him. Rahul Gandhi tirelessly directed his commitment to the efforts of the Indian National Congress for the betterment of the country and this earned him the post of the President of the Indian National Congress in 2017. Since then, the Indian National Congress under his leadership has arisen as a formidable force and the voice of various stakeholders of the country. The vision of Rahul Gandhi and his strategy to fight the democratic battle with love and unity is what makes the Congress Party the true representative of a united India. Going forward, he aims to put these principles into action by creating systems that provide India’s citizens with the tools and opportunities they need to reach their full potential.
Rahul Gandhi as the President of the Indian National Congress
The responsibilities of the President of the Indian National Congress were shouldered to Rahul Gandhi on the 16th of December, 2017. Since then, he has proved to be a strong voice of the opposition against the Bharatiya Janata Party led National Democratic Alliance under the Prime Ministership of Narendra Modi. Rahul Gandhi as the President of the largest opposition party has raised multiple issues where the focus is mainly on the betterment of the deprived sections of society. He has also been instrumental in keeping the ruling party on their toes by severely criticizing the various schemes and policies of the Modi led NDA government. Some of the NDA government policies against which Rahul Gandhi has been extremely vocal about are the hurried demonetization of 2016 that hindered the Indian economic growth, the compulsory enrollment of every citizen of India under the Aadhar scheme, the Goods and Services Tax, the rising inflation and fuel prices, playing divisive politics among the people of India, failure of the Swachh Bharat Scheme and the Rafale scam among many others. The Congress under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi have severely criticized the Modi led NDA government to be pro-rich where they submit to the demands of the capitalists, industrialists and the Multinational Corporations without paying heed or addressing to the hardships faced by the farmers and the impoverished of the country.