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Rahul Gandhi (born June 19, 1970) a Indian politician and member of the Parliament of India from the Indian National Congress.

Family Roots

Rahul Gandhi is a member of the Nehru-Gandhi political family, the son of Italian-born Sonia Gandhi, the President of the Indian National Congress, and Rajiv Gandhi, the former Prime Minister who was assassinated in 1991 by Sri Lankan Tamil militants. He was only 14 when his grand-mother, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, was assassinated by Sikh militants in 1984. His great-grandfather was Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister and a distinguished leader of the national freedom struggle.

Education

Rahul Gandhi attended St. Columba's School in New Delhi and then The Doon School, his father's alma mater which he attended 1981-83 before being home-schooled for security reasons. His admission to St. Stephen's College was controversial as he was alleged to have misused his position and claimed admission under sports quota. He is listed as attending Harvard between 1990 and 1993 but never completed a degree. It was later claimed that he transferred due to security concerns to another university in Massachusetts where he completed a B.A., but this other university has never been named. During the parliamentary elections in 2004, Gandhi claimed that he had received an MPhil. in Development Economics after attending Trinity College, Cambridge (media enquiries report that he attended under the alias "Rahul Vinci"). However, there is strong disapproval over his lack of apparent lack of educational credentials or certificates, each usually required of politicians in India. He worked in London with the strategy consultancy firm Monitor Group, before returning to India in 2002 to start a software company. Most of his life is opaque to public enquiry. For reasons that are open to speculation, there have never been an effort to refute this from the Congress Party or from his family.

Political career

Although, his mother had been the Congress President and Leader of the Opposition since 1998, Gandhi had showed little interest in politics. In 2003, there was widespread media speculation about his imminent entry into national politics; this was not discouraged. Appearing with his mother at public events and Congress meetings, Rahul also went to Pakistan on a goodwill visit to watch a historic Cricket Test match between the two nations. In May 2004, he ran for the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament, from his father's constituency of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh and won. His campaign was directed by his younger sister Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra.

Since then, Gandhi's supporters claim that he has sought to cultivate support from young Indians . The opponents hold that he carefully works up his profile by using a section of media. He is also thought to be responsible for introduction of the controversial reservation bill for OBC's in India. There is a general feeling that this will help revive Congress in UP which is currently under Samajwadi Party that is bitterly opposed to Congress. The opponents believe this will fracture Indian Society for many decades.

Although he holds no other office and concentrates mainly on constituency issues and the politics of Uttar Pradesh, it is speculated by some that Sonia Gandhi is trying to groom him for a chance to become a Congress leader in the future.

External links

• http://www.rahulgandhi.com Unofficial Site of Rahul Gandhi
• http://rahulgandhi.8k.com Unofficial Site of Rahul Gandhi
• http://www.rahulgandhi.net Unofficial Site of Rahul Gandhi

See also

• Indian National Congress
• Nehru-Gandhi Dynasty

• 1970 births
• Indian politicians
• Dosco
• Living people
• Indian National Congress leaders