Rahul Gandhi: Indian politician (born 1970)

His great-grandfather was Jawaharlal Nehru, who was India's first Prime-Minister. His grandmother was Indira Gandhi who was India's first woman Prime Minister. His father Rajiv Gandhi was India's youngest Prime Minister. He is the chief of the Indian National Congress. He also heads the Indian Youth Congress and the National Students Union of India. He is a former member of the Indian Parliament and represented Amethi, Uttar Pradesh in the 16th Lok Sabha.

Rahul Gandhi
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
Incumbent
Assumed office 23 May 2019
Preceded by	M. I. Shanavas
Constituency	Wayanad, Kerala
In office 17 May 2004 – 23 May 2019
Preceded by	Sonia Gandhi
Succeeded by	Smriti Irani
Constituency	Amethi, Uttar Pradesh
President of the Indian National Congress
In office 16 December 2017 – 10 August 2019
Preceded by	Sonia Gandhi
Succeeded by	Sonia Gandhi (Interim)
Vice-President of the Indian National Congress
In office 19 January 2013 – 16 December 2017
President	Sonia Gandhi
Preceded by	Jitendra Prasada
Succeeded by	Post Vacant
General Secretary of Indian National Congress
In office 25 September 2007 – 19 January 2013
President	Sonia Gandhi
Chair of Indian Youth Congress
In office 25 September 2007 – 17 December 2017
Preceded by	Position established
Chair of National Students’ Union of India
Incumbent
Assumed office 25 September 2007
Preceded by	Position established
Personal details
Born	(1960-06-19) 19 June 1960 (age 63) New Delhi, India
Political party	Indian National Congress
Parents	[[Rajiv Gandhi ]] Antonia Maino
Relatives	Nehru–Gandhi family
Education	University of Delhi Harvard University Rollins College (BA) Trinity College, Cambridge (MPhil)
Signature
Website	Official website

Gandhi completed his primary education in New Delhi and Dehradun. After his father became the Prime Minister, he was taught at home because of security problems. He studied at Rollins College under an assumed name. Later, he also attended Cambridge.

Gandhi entered politics in 2004 and won the elections from Amethi. Amethi is a constituency that was earlier held by his father. He won both the 2009 and 2014 elections from the same constituency. He became the General Secretary of the Congress in 2007 and was elected Vice-President of the party in 2013. Gandhi led the Indian National Congress campaign for the 2014 Indian general elections. The party suffered its worst defeat in that election. It won only 44 seats.

On 23 March 2023, Gandhi was convicted and sentenced to two years imprisonment by a court in Surat, Gujarat, under charges of defamation because of remarks he had made against Narendra Modi during the 2019 Indian general election campaign. On 24 March 2023, he was disqualified by the Lok Sabha speaker from the membership of the Parliament. The notification issued stated he was an Ex-MP and said that he was disqualified under Article 102 of the Constitution. On 4 August, Gandhi's conviction was stayed by the Supreme Court of India pending appeal.

Rahul Gandhi was born in Delhi on 19 June 1970. He was the first of the two children of Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. His family is well known for having a special place in Indian politics. His father later became the Prime Minister of India. His mother became the President of the Indian National Congress. His paternal grandfather Feroze Gandhi was a Parsi from Gujarat. Priyanka Vadra is his younger sister and Robert Vadra is his brother-in-law. He identifies himself as a Hindu Brahmin.

Rahul Gandhi attended St. Columba's School, Delhi. He studied at The Doon School in Dehradun, Uttarakhand from 1981 to 1983. Due to the security threats faced by the family from Sikh extremists after Indira Gandhi's assassination, he was later home-schooled.

Rahul Gandhi joined St. Stephen's College, Delhi in 1989 for his undergraduate education. However, he moved to Harvard University after he completed the first year examinations. In 1991, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by the Tamil Tigers. After the assassination, Rahul Gandhi shifted to Rollins College in Florida, USA, due to security problems. While he was at Rollins College, he used Raul Vinci as his name. His real name was known only to a few university officials and security agencies. He later studied at Trinity College Cambridge.

After graduation, Rahul Gandhi worked at the Monitor Group, a management consulting firm, in London. In 2002, he became one of the directors of Mumbai-based technology outsourcing firm Backops Services Private Ltd. In 2004, Gandhi had told the press that he had a Spanish girlfriend who was an architect. He had met her while studying in England. In 2013, he suggested that he may not get married.

Rahul Gandhi's political career started in March 2004 when he said that he would become a candidate for the Amethi region for the elections held in India in May 2004. The Amethi region had earlier been held by his father, Rajiv Gandhi and then his mother Sonia Gandhi, who later chose another region to become a candidate from.