Rahul Gandhi
Rahul Gandhi 
pronunciation (help·info) [ˈraːɦʊl
ˈɡaːnd̪ʱiː] (born 19 June 1970) is an Indian
politician. He hails from a long line of politicians, known as the Nehru-Gandhi
family, which has occupied a prominent place in the politics of India ever since the country
gained independence in 1947. His great-grandfather was Jawaharlal Nehru,
the first prime minister of India and also the longest serving Prime Minister
of India having served for a total of seventeen years. Gandhi's grandmother Indira was the first woman Prime
Minister of India and his father Rajiv was the youngest prime
minister of India to be sworn in to office. The son of Sonia and Rajiv, he is the
president of the Indian National Congress and serves such
additional offices as the chairperson of the Indian Youth Congress and the National Students Union of India.[1] A member of the Indian Parliament, Gandhi represents
the constituency of Amethi, Uttar Pradesh in the 16th Lok Sabha.[2]
pronunciation (help·info) [ˈraːɦʊl
ˈɡaːnd̪ʱiː] (born 19 June 1970) is an Indian
politician. He hails from a long line of politicians, known as the Nehru-Gandhi
family, which has occupied a prominent place in the politics of India ever since the country
gained independence in 1947. His great-grandfather was Jawaharlal Nehru,
the first prime minister of India and also the longest serving Prime Minister
of India having served for a total of seventeen years. Gandhi's grandmother Indira was the first woman Prime
Minister of India and his father Rajiv was the youngest prime
minister of India to be sworn in to office. The son of Sonia and Rajiv, he is the
president of the Indian National Congress and serves such
additional offices as the chairperson of the Indian Youth Congress and the National Students Union of India.[1] A member of the Indian Parliament, Gandhi represents
the constituency of Amethi, Uttar Pradesh in the 16th Lok Sabha.[2]
Gandhi stayed away from
the public sphere for much of his childhood
and early youth; he attained primary education in New Delhi and Dehradun but was later homeschooled because of security
concerns. He later attended Rollins College under a pseudonym, his
identity being known only to a select few individuals, which included certain
university officials and security agencies. After obtaining degrees in International Relations and Development
Studies at the universities of
Rollins and Cambridge, Gandhi worked at the Monitor Group, a
management consulting firm in London. He established the Mumbai-based
technology outsourcing firm, Backops Services Private Ltd.
Gandhi entered politics
in 2004 and successfully contested the general elections held that year from Amethi, a seat that
was earlier held by his father; he won again from the constituency in 2009 and 2014. Amidst calls from Congress party veterans for
his greater involvement in party politics and national government, Gandhi was
elected Congress Vice-President in 2013, having served as the General Secretary
previously. Gandhi led the INC's campaign in the 2014
Indian general elections; the party suffered its worst electoral
result in its history, winning only 44 seats compared to 206 seats won
previously in the 2009 general election. As of May 2018, Gandhi trails behind
incumbent Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi as the popular choice for
Prime Minister in the 2019 general elections.[3]
Gandhi took over as the
president of the Congress in December 2017. He is also a trustee of Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust.
Early life
Gandhi was born in Delhi on 19 June 1970,[4] as the first of the two
children of Rajiv Gandhi, who
later became the Prime Minister of India, and Italian-born Sonia Gandhi, who
later became President of Indian National Congress, and as the grandson of the
then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. His
paternal grandfather Feroze Gandhi was a Parsi from Gujarat.[5] He is also the
great-grandson of India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. Priyanka Vadra is his younger sister[6] and Robert Vadra is his brother-in-law. He
identifies himself as a Hindu Brahmin.[7]
Gandhi attended St. Columba's School, Delhi[8] before entering The Doon School in Dehradun, Uttarakhand from 1981 to 1983.
Meanwhile, his father had joined politics and became the Prime Minister on 31
October 1984 when Indira Gandhi was assassinated. Due to the security threats faced by
Indira Gandhi's family from Sikh extremists,
Rahul Gandhi and his sister, Priyanka were home-schooled thereafter.[9]
Gandhi joined St. Stephen's College, Delhi in 1989 for his undergraduate
education but moved to Harvard
University after he completed the
first year examinations.[10] In 1991, after Rajiv
Gandhi was assassinated by the Tamil Tigers (LTTE)[11] during an election rally,
he shifted to Rollins College in Florida, USA, due to
security concerns and obtained his B.A. in 1994.[12] During his time at
Rollins, he assumed the pseudonym Raul Vinci and his identity was known only to
the university officials and security agencies.[10][13] He further went on to
obtain an M.Phil. from Trinity College, Cambridge in 1995.[14]
After graduation, Rahul
Gandhi worked at the Monitor Group, a management consulting firm, in London.[15] In 2002, he was one of
the directors of Mumbai-based technology outsourcing firm Backops Services
Private Ltd.[16] While in 2004, Gandhi had
told the press that he had a Spanish girlfriend, an architect,
living in Venezuela, whom he
had met while studying in England.[17][18] In 2013, he suggested
that he may not get married.[19]
Political career
Formative years
In March 2004, Gandhi
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.[20] His mother had held the
seat 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.[21] 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. 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[22] In his first interview
with foreign media, Gandhi portrayed himself as an uniter of the country and
condemned "divisive" politics in India, saying that he would try to
reduce caste and religious tensions.[20] Gandhi won, retaining the
family stronghold with a victory margin of over 100,000.[23] Until 2006 he held no
other office.[24]
Gandhi and his sister,
Priyanka managed their mother's campaign for re-election to Rae Bareilly in
2006, which was won with a victory margin of over 400,000 votes.[25] He was a prominent figure
in the Congress campaign for the 2007 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections;
Congress, however, won only 22 seats of the 403 seats with 8.53% of votes.[26]
Gandhi was appointed
General Secretary of the All India Congress Committee on 24 September 2007 in a
reshuffle of the party secretariat.[27] In the same reshuffle, he
was also given charge of the Indian Youth Congress and the National Students Union of India.[28] In 2008, senior Congress
leader Veerappa Moily mentioned "Rahul-as-PM" idea when the PM of
India Manmohan Singh was still abroad.[29] He was elevated to the
position of the vice-president of the party in January 2013.[30]
Youth politics
In September 2007 when he
was appointed general secretary in charge of the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) and the National
Students Union of India (NSUI), Gandhi promised to reform youth politics.[31] In his attempt to prove
himself thus, in November 2008 Gandhi 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.[32]
Under Gandhi, the IYC and
NSUI have seen a dramatic increase in members from 200,000 to 2.5 million.[33] The Indian Express wrote in 2011,
"Three years later, as another organisational reshuffle is in the offing,
Gandhi's dream remains unrealised with party veterans manipulating internal
elections in the Youth Congress and a host of people with questionable
background gaining entry into it."[34]
Indian general glection, 2009
In the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, Gandhi retained his Amethi
seat by defeating his nearest rival by a margin of over 370,000 votes. Gandhi
was credited with the Congress revival in Uttar Pradesh where they won 21 out
of the total 80 Lok Sabha seats.[35][36] He spoke at 125 rallies
across the country in six weeks.[37] The nationwide elections
defied the predictions made by pre-poll predictions and exit polls and gave a clear
mandate to the incumbent Congress-led UPA government.[38]
In May 2011, Gandhi was
arrested by the Uttar
Pradesh Police at Bhatta Parsaul village
after he turned out in support of agitating farmers demanding more
compensation for their land being acquired for a highway project. Gandhi was
taken away from the protest site and later given bail and dropped off at the
Delhi-UP border.[39]
2012 Assembly elections
Gandhi campaigned during
the 2012 Assembly elections in the politically
crucial Uttar Pradesh election for almost two months,
holding 200 rallies. However Congress ranked as the fourth party in the state,
winning 28 seats, an increase of six seats from the previous 2007 elections. Out
of the 15 seats in the Amethi parliamentary constituency, Congress won two.[40][41]
Congress activists
defended the result in Uttar Pradesh, saying "there's a big difference
between state elections and national polls and in the end there is only the
first family, a hope and a prayer",[42] and pointing out the turn
around attributed to Gandhi in the 2009 Lok Sabha national elections in the
state. However, Rahul Gandhi publicly accepted responsibility for the result in
an interview after the result was declared.[43]
In the Gujarat assembly elections held later in the year,
Gandhi was not made the head of the election campaign. This was seen and
regarded by opponents as an admission of defeat and was termed as a tactic to
avoid blame of defeat.[44][45][46] Congress won 57 seats in
the assembly of 182, which was 2 less than the previous elections in 2007. Later in bypolls, Congress
lost 4 more seats to BJP.
Indian general election, 2014
Gandhi contested the Indian general election, 2014 from his constituency,
Amethi.[47] and led the election
campaign of the Indian National Congress.[48] Gandhi held the Amethi
seat by defeating his nearest rival, BJP's Smriti Irani, by a
reduced margin of 107,000 votes.[36][49] Under his leadership, the
Indian National Congress suffered its worst ever performance in elections and
won only 44 seats compared to 206 seats won previously in the 2009 general
election.[50][51] The Congress-led
electoral alliance, the UPA also had its worst ever performance in elections
and won only 59 seats compared to 262 seats won previously in the 2009 general
election.[51][52][53] After the defeat, Gandhi
offered to resign his posts, only to be rejected by the party's working
committee.[54]
Post-general election
Farmers' and Land Agitation
In February 2015, Gandhi
went on a leave of absence to an "undisclosed location to reflect both on
recent events related to the party and its future course".[55] After returning from his
leave of absence, Gandhi addressed the farmer and worker's rally, named as Kisan Khet Mazdoor Rally in Ramlila Maidan on 19 April 2015. Here he
made "references to his agitations in Niyamgiri in Orissa and Bhatta-Parsaul in
Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh".[56] The rally was attended by
1 lakh people. In the speech he gave, he criticised the Indian prime minister Narendra Modi about his comment in Toronto where he said that he was
"cleaning the mess created by previous governments".[57] He also said "Do you
know how Modi won the election?.. He
borrowed thousands of crores from industrialists for his several campaigns and
advertisements. How will he pay them back? He will pay them back with your
land. He will give your land to his industrialist friends."[56]
He mocked the government
as "suit-boot government", a reference to Modi's monogrammed suit
which he wore in the Republic Day meeting with Barack Obama.
Moreover, he used the "acche din government" jibe (which was Modi's
election campaign slogan meaning "good days government") and
mentioned that it had "failed the country".[58]
A land bill was
introduced by the BJP government in the parliament in May which was criticised
by the opposition parties.[59] Accusing the government
of "murdering" UPA's land bill,[60] Gandhi promised to
prevent the bill from being passed, if not in the parliament then would
"stop you [ BJP government] on
streets". He further accused the government of diluting the bill and
called it as "anti-farmer".[59] Gandhi also drew parallel
between "daylight robbery" and the bill.[61] On 26 May, the day of the
Modi government's first anniversary, Gandhi commented at a rally in Kozhikode "Unfortunately,
birthday celebrations is only for a few powerful friends of the government.
Kisan, farmers and mazdoor have nothing to celebrate." [62]
Indian general election, 2019
Gandhi coined the slogan
"Chowkidar
Chor Hai" as a jibe against Narendra Modi, BJP's Prime
Ministerial candidate for the 2019 Indian general election.[63] The slogan was aimed at
Modi in relation to the alleged irregularities and favouritism in awarding the
contracts for the Rafale fighter jet deal.[64][65] The government has denied
any wrongdoing in the Rafale deal and the case is being heard by the Supreme Court of India.[66][67]
Rahul Gandhi contesting
the Indian general election, 2019 from two constituencies,
Amethi , UP[68] and Wayanad, Kerala [69]. and led the election
campaign of the Indian National Congress party. Party states Gandhi contesting
from Wayanad , a tri-juntion covering Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka state is
a boost for southern India .
Electoral Performances
|
Year
|
Election
|
Party
|
Constituency Name
|
Result
|
Votes gained
|
Vote share%
|
|
|
Winner
|
3,90,179
|
66.18%
|
|||||
|
Winner
|
4,64,195
|
71.78%
|
|||||
|
Winner
|
4,08,651
|
46.71%
|
|||||
|
TBA
|
TBA
|
TBA
|
|||||
Political and
social views
National security
In December 2010 during
the United States diplomatic cables leak, WikiLeaks leaked a cable dated 3
August 2009, where the Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh had hosted a lunch on 20
July 2009 for Rahul Gandhi, then the General Secretary of the AICC. One of the
guests who was invited for the lunch was the United States Ambassador to India, Timothy J. Roemer.
In a "candid conversation" with Roemer, he said that he believes Hindu extremists pose a greater threat to
his country than Muslim militants. Rahul Gandhi
referred specifically to more-polarising figures in the Bharatiya Janata Party. Also responding to the
ambassador's query about the activities in the region by the Islamist militant organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Rahul Gandhi said
there was evidence of some support for the group among certain elements in
India's indigenous Muslim population.[70][71] In a response to this,
the BJP heavily criticised Rahul Gandhi for his statements. BJP spokesperson Ravi
Shankar Prasad slammed Rahul Gandhi,
saying that his language was a bigger threat to India, dividing the people of
the country on communal grounds. Speaking to reporters, Prasad said, "In
one stroke Mr. Rahul Gandhi has sought to give a big leverage to the propaganda
to all the extremist and terrorist groups in Pakistan, and also
some segments of Pakistani establishment. It would also seriously compromise
India's fight against terror as also our strategic security."Adding that
terrorism has no religion, he said that Rahul Gandhi had shown his lack of
understanding India.[72] Gandhi has also been
critical of groups like the RSS and has compared them to
terrorist organisations like SIMI.[73][74]
After the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots, at a Madhya Pradesh election rally in Indore, Rahul Gandhi
claimed that a police officer has told him that Pakistan's ISI was trying to recruit
disgruntled riot-affected youngsters.[75][76] However, the district
administration, the UP state government, the Union Home Ministry, the Research
and Analysis Wing (RAW) and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) denied any such
development.[77][78] This remark drew heavy
criticism from various political outfits such as BJP, SP, CPI and JD(U).[79] Congress's Jairam Ramesh said Gandhi needed to
apologise to the Muslim community for this remark.[80] In reply to the ECI's show-cause notice to
explain why action should not be initiated against him for violating the Model
Code of Conduct, Gandhi said that he didn't intend to exploit communal
sentiments but was referring to divisive politics.[81] The BJP also asked the
government to explain why Gandhi, who holds no post in the government, is being
briefed by intelligence officers on important security issues.[82] On 13 November 2013,
Election Commission of India finding Gandhi's explanation to be insufficient
conveyed its displeasure and advised him to be more circumspect in his public
utterances during election campaigns.[83]
Lokpal
Rahul Gandhi opines that
the Lokpal should be made a
constitutional body and it should be made accountable to the Parliament, just
like the Election Commission of India. He also feels that Lokpal alone cannot
root out corruption. This statement came out on 25 August 2011, on the 10th day
of Anna Hazare's fast.
This statement was considered as a delaying tactic by the opposition and Team Anna's members.
It was consequently slammed by prominent opposition leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley.[84] The Parliamentary
Standing Committee led by Abhishek Manu Singhvi tabled the Jan Lokpal Bill report in the Rajya Sabha
on 9 December 2011. The report recommended the Lokpal to be made into a
constitutional body. In response, Hazare attacked Rahul Gandhi, claiming he had
made the bill "weak and ineffective".[85]
Poverty
During a rally in Allahabad, Gandhi
said "Poverty is just a state of mind. It does not mean the scarcity of
food, money or material things. If one possesses self-confidence, then one can
overcome poverty."[86] The phrase "state of
mind" drew sharp criticism with BJP Uttar Pradesh spokesperson Vijay
Bahadur Pathak alleging him to be mocking the poor.[87] Oneindia News wrote that he made
"economics irrelevant".[88]
Ordinance on Convicted Lawmakers
Rahul Gandhi, on
"the convicted lawmakers ordinance" insisted that the ordinance is
"complete nonsense"[89] and "What our
government has done is wrong".[90] This was expressed on 28
September 2013 in a press meet, when Rahul made a surprise visit to a press
meet organised by Ajay Maken on the topic[91]. The ordinance, earlier,
was cleared by the government to negate a Supreme Court's judgment that would
have led to the ejection of convicted lawmakers.[92][93]
Women's rights
Gandhi has pushed for the
empowerment of women.[94][95] He backed the Women's Reservation Bill which would allow 33%
reservation of all Lok Sabha and state legislative assembly seats for women.
This bill passed the Rajya Sabha on 9 March 2010 but has not yet been voted on
by the Lok Sabha as of February 2014.[96][97][98]
LGBT rights
Gandhi had backed the
repeal of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code and the decriminalisation
of homosexuality.[99]
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