Some hate him, some love him, everyone has heard of him. Rahul Gandhi's presence in Indian politics is undeniable.
Almost all of his family members, including his father, grandmother, and maternal great-grandfather, have served as prime ministers of India. This is one of the reasons why politicians, media and citizens are so fascinated by him.
Who is Rahul Gandhi?
Rahul Gandhi was born on 19 June, 1970 as the son of Rajiv Gandhi, the sixth prime minister of the country, and Sonia Gandhi.
Rahul received his primary education at Delhi's premier St. Columba's School for a few years before moving to The Doon School in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, in 1981.
However, in 1984, after the assassination of his grandmother and the country's third Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, he was sent home for security reasons.
Rahul Gandhi, India's most prominent opposition leader
© AP Photo / Andres Kudacki
Rahul's University Education
In 1989, Rahul secured admission to St. Stephens College, Delhi University. However, the opposition staged protests against his admission. He soon moved to Harvard University in the USA. Again, he could not graduate after the assassination of his father Rajiv Gandhi in 1991.
Again for security reasons, he moved to Rollins College in Florida, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1994. He then went on to Trinity College, Cambridge, to complete his M.Phil. in Development Studies in 1995.
Rahul's Professional Career
Rahul remains adamant that he built his professional career before entering politics. "Rahul began his professional career with the Monitor Group, a management consulting firm based in London," according to his website.
In 2002, he made a return to India, establishing his own technology consulting firm, Backups Services Private Ltd, in the city of Mumbai. As Director of this organization, he led his team and even went on to establish another firm called BackOps.
India's opposition Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi
© AP Photo / Mukhtar Khan
Rahul Joins Politics
At the age of 34, he announced that he would be joining politics and fought his first parliamentarian election from Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi.
The Amethi constituency has been considered a Congress bastion since 1967, except in 2019 and in the 1970s and 1990s. The constituency was represented by Rajiv Gandhi, his brother Sanjay Gandhi and later his wife Sonia Gandhi, a loyalist of the Nehru-Gandhi family.
In 2007, Rahul was appointed general secretary of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) and also took charge of the National Students' Union of India (NSUI) and the Indian Youth Congress (IYC). In 2013, Rahul became the Vice President of the Congress Party.
In 2017, he was appointed as the president of the Congress party. However, in 2019, he resigned from the post following the party's poor performance in the 2019 elections. He also lost his seat from Amethi. However, he won from Wayanad in Kerala.
In 2019, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker from Gujarat, Purnesh Modi, filed a defamation case against him, which later led to his disqualification from parliament.
Congress Party President Rahul Gandhi, center, looks as his sister and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, left, and her husband Robert Vadra, pay homage to former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi on his death anniversary in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, May 21, 2019.
© AP Photo / Manish Swarup
Rahul's Unite India Campaign
Rahul gained immense popularity especially last year when he undertook a 3,570 km foot march 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' (Unite India Campaign) from the southernmost to the northernmost point of India - from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu to Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir.
In 2023, Rahul Gandhi may no longer be the leader of the Congress, but he's undoubtedly the most talked-about member of the opposition. With the general election barely ten months away, he will play a prominent role in his party's campaign as part of the strategic team.
He and his team are dedicatedly portraying him as an approachable and welcoming leader through synchronized public appearances and regular platform addresses on subjects that are of public interest.
Will the citizens approve of his new look following the Unite India campaign? We don't know yet, but the election results will certainly speak for themselves.