Know Rahul Gandhi

Rahul Gandhi is currently the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the MP from Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh. He was born on 19 June 1970 in Delhi. Here is a look at his education, work, political journey and interests.

Education

Rahul Gandhi began school at St. Columba's in Delhi and then studied at The Doon School, Dehradun, from 1981 to 1983. After the assassination of his grandmother Indira Gandhi in 1984, he was schooled at home for security reasons. In 1989 he joined St. Stephen's College, Delhi, to study history, and then went to Harvard University in the United States. After his father Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in 1991, he studied at Rollins College in Florida under the name "Raul Vinci" for security reasons and completed his BA in 1994. In 1995 he earned an M.Phil in Development Studies from Trinity College, University of Cambridge.

Before politics

After his studies he worked for about three years at Monitor Group, a management consulting firm in London. In 2002 he started his own technology consulting company in Mumbai.

Political journey

He entered active politics in 2004 and was first elected MP from Amethi, which he represented until 2019. He became Vice-President of the Congress in 2013 and was Congress President from 2017 to 2019. From 2019 to 2024 he was MP from Wayanad in Kerala. In 2024 he was elected from Rae Bareli and became Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.

Interests

Rahul Gandhi holds a black belt in the Japanese martial art Aikido. As a young man he also took up shooting and finished fourth at the 1988–89 national shooting championship. He practises Vipassana meditation and keeps fit through running, swimming and jiu-jitsu.

Interesting facts

Between September 2022 and January 2023 he walked about 4,080 km from Kanyakumari to Kashmir over 137 days in the Bharat Jodo Yatra. Starting with Motilal Nehru, he is the fifth generation of his family to become Congress President.