Rahul Gandhi’s birthday today who was born on 19 June 1970 is an Indian politician who was the President of the Indian National Congress from 16 December 2017 to 3 July 2019.
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 Jawaharlal Nehru, was the first prime minister of India and also the longest-serving Prime Minister of India having served for a total of seventeen years.
Rahul Gandhi’s birthday today whose grandmother, Indira, was the first female 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 chairperson of the Indian Youth Congress and the National Students Union of India.
A member of the Indian Parliament, Gandhi represents the constituency of Wayanad, Kerala in the 17th Lok Sabha.
Rahul 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.
Rahul 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.
Rahul 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.
Rahul Gandhi’s birthday today his Early Life and Background:
Rahul Gandhi was born in Delhi on 19 June 1970,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.
He is also the great-grandson of India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. 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 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.
Rahul Gandhi’s birthday today who joined St. Stephen’s College, Delhi in 1989 for his undergraduate education but moved to Harvard University after he completed the first year examinations.
In 1991, after Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by the Tamil Tigers (LTTE)[10] during an election rally,
he shifted to Rollins College in Florida, USA, due to security concerns and obtained his B.A. in 1994.
During his time at Rollins, he assumed the pseudonym Raul Vinci and his identity was known only to the university officials and security agencies.
He further went on to obtain an M.Phil. from Trinity College, Cambridge in 1995.
After graduation, Rahul Gandhi worked at the Monitor Group, a management consulting firm, in London.
In 2002, he was one of the directors of Mumbai-based technology outsourcing firm Backops Services Private Ltd.
Rahul Gandhi’s birthday today his Electoral Performances:
Year Election Party Constituency Name Result Votes gained Vote share%
2004 14th Lok Sabha Indian National Congress Amethi Won 3,90,179 66.18%
2009 15th Lok Sabha Indian National Congress Amethi Won 4,64,195 71.78%
2014 16th Lok Sabha Indian National Congress Amethi Won 4,08,651 46.71%
2019 17th Lok Sabha Indian National Congress Amethi Lost 4,13,394 43.86%
2019 17th Lok Sabha Indian National Congress Wayanad Won 7,06,367 64.67%
Positions Held Within Party:
Year Position Preceded by Succeeded by
2007 – 2013 General secretary of INC
2007 – 2013 Chairperson of Indian Youth Congress Position established Incumbent (as of 2020)
2007 – Incumbent (as of 2020) Chairperson of NSUI Position established Incumbent (as of 2020)
2013 – 2016 Vice president of INC Position established Position abolished
2017 – 2019 President of INC Sonia Gandhi Sonia Gandhi (interim)
Rahul’s Social and Political 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.
Picture: 68th United States Secretary of State John Kerry with Rahul Gandhi at the Roosevelt House in New Delhi
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. T
his 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.
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”.
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.”
The phrase “state of mind” drew sharp criticism with BJP Uttar Pradesh spokesperson Vijay Bahadur Pathak alleging him to be mocking the poor.
Oneindia News wrote that he made “economics irrelevant”
Ordinance on Convicted Lawmakers
Rahul Gandhi, on “the convicted lawmakers ordinance” insisted that the ordinance is “complete nonsense” and “What our government has done is wrong”.
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.
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.
Picture: Rahul Gandhi at The Doon School
Women’s rights
Gandhi has pushed for the empowerment of women. 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.
LGBT Rights
Gandhi had backed the repeal of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code and the decriminalisation of homosexuality.
Rahul Gandhi Targets PM Over India-China Face-Off: “Why Is He Hiding?”
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