Rahul Gandhi

Rahul Gandhi (pronounced /rɑːˈhuːl ˈɡɑːndi/; Hindi: राहुल गांधी; born 19 June 1970) is an Indian politician and member of the Parliament of India, representing the Amethi constituency.[1] His political party is the Indian National Congress.[2] He is a member of the Nehru-Gandhi family.

Rahul Gandhi was born in Delhi, the first amongst 2 children of Rajiv Gandhi, former Prime Minister of India and Sonia Gandhi, the current Congress President. He is the elder brother of Priyanka Gandhi. His grandmother was Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and his great-grandfather was Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister.[3]

He attended St. Columba's School, Delhi[4] before entering the The Doon School in Dehradun (Uttarakhand), also his father's alma mater,[5] from 1981-83 before being home-schooled for security reasons.[6] Starting university at Harvard, he got his B.A. from Rollins College, Florida in 1994[7] due to interruptions in his studies caused by security concerns after his father's assassination. He received an M.Phil. in Development Studies in 1995 from Trinity College, Cambridge.

Corporate career

Rahul Gandhi, after graduating worked with management guru, Michael Porter's Management consulting firm, Monitor Group.[9] for three years. His colleagues at the firm had no idea who they were working with— as he was using an assumed name (Raul Vinci). He returned to India in late 2002 to run an engineering and technology outsourcing firm in Mumbai.[10]

[edit] Political career

In 2003, there was widespread media speculation on the issue of Rahul Gandhi's imminent entry into national politics, which he did not confirm.[11] He appeared with his mother at public events and Congress meetings.[11] He also traveled to Pakistan on a goodwill visit to watch the first cricket series between the countries in 14 years in a One Day International with his sister Priyanka Gandhi.[12]

Speculation heightened in January 2004 about his and his sister's possible entry into politics when they visited their father's former constituency of Amethi, which their mother held at the time. He refused to give a definitive response, stating "I am not averse to politics. I have not decided when I will enter politics and indeed, if I ever will."[13]

In March 2004, he announced his entry into politics by announcing that he would contest the May 2004 elections, standing for his father's former constituency of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha, India's lower house of Parliament.[14] Before that, his uncle Sanjay held the seat before a plane crash. The seat had been held by his mother until she transferred to the neighbouring seat of Rae Bareilly. The Congress had been doing poorly in Uttar Pradesh, holding only 10 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state at the time.[13] At the time, this move generated surprise among political commentators, who had regarded his sister Priyanka as being the more charismatic and likely to succeed. Party officials did not have a curriculum vitae ready for the media, such was the surprise of his move. It generated speculation that the presence of a young member of India's most famous political family would reinvigorate the Congress party's political fortunes among India's youthful population[15] In his first interview with foreign media, he portrayed himself as a uniter of the country and condemned "divisive" politics in India, saying that he would try to reduce caste and religious tensions.[14] His candidacy was greeted with excitement by locals, who had a long standing affinity with the family's presence in the area.[13] , Politician of Indian National Congress He won with a landslide majority, retaining the family stronghold with a margin of over 100,000 as the Congress unexpectedly defeated the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.[16] His campaign was directed by his younger sister, Priyanka Gandhi Vadhera.[citation needed] Till 2006 he held no other office and concentrated mainly on constituency issues and the politics of Uttar Pradesh, and it was widely speculated in the Indian and international press that Sonia Gandhi is trying to groom him for a chance to become a national-level Congress leader in the future.[17]

In January 2006, at a convention of the Indian National Congress in Hyderabad, thousands of party members asked for Gandhi to take a more prominent leadership role in the party and demanded that he address the delegates. He said "I appreciate and I am grateful for your feelings and support. I assure you I will not let you down", but asked for patience and declined to immediately seek a higher profile role.[18]

Gandhi and his sister (married to Robert Vadhera) managed their mother's campaign for reelection to Rae Bareilly in 2006, which was won easily with a margin greater than 400,000 votes.[19]

He was a prominent figure in a high profile Congress campaign for the 2007 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections; Congress, however, won only 22 seats with 8.53% of votes. The election saw the Bahujan Samaj Party, which represents low caste Indians, to become the first party to govern in its own right in Uttar Pradesh in 16 years.[20]

Rahul Gandhi was appointed a general secretary of the All India Congress Committee on 24 September 2007 in a reshuffle of the party secretariat.[21] In the same reshuffle, he was also given charge of the Indian Youth Congress and the National Students Union of India.[22]

[edit] Youth Politics

In his attempt to prove himself as a youth leader in November 2008 he held interviews at his 12, Tughlak Lane residence in New Delhi to handpick at least 40 people who will make up the think-tank of the Indian Youth Congress (IYC), an organisation that he has been keen to transform since he was appointed general secretary in September 2007.[23]

Under Rahul Gandhi, IYC and NSUI has seen a dramatic increase in members from a few hundred thousand to several million.[24]

Rahul Gandhi participated in an interactive session with students of Jawaharlal Nehru University, India. The University student unions have been traditionally dominated by the Left. His party, INC, however, was quick to play up Rahul's visit to JNU as an “excellent example of youth participation in politics”. Rahul's grandmother, Indira Gandhi had to face huge opposition from Left student unions during her visit to the university campus in 1982 because of her decision to impose emergency.[25] Rahul was quizzed by the students on issues ranging from hiearchial politics in India, to his visits to Dalit Houses, economic growth in the country and education reforms. Some papers, however, reported Rahul's visit to JNU as a political attempt to strengthen the newly constituted unit of NSUI at JNU.[25]

[edit] 2009 Elections

In the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, he retained his Amethi constituency by defeating his nearest rival by a margin of over 333,000 votes. In these elections congress is said to have revived itself in Uttar Pradesh by winning 21 out of the total 80 Lok Sabha seats and the majority of the credit for this turnaround is given to Rahul Gandhi.[26] He spoke at 125 rallies across the country in six weeks.

He is referred to as RG in party circles.[27]

[edit] Criticism

In late 2008, an apparent snub to Gandhi revealed the power wielded by him. Gandhi was prevented from using the auditorium at the Chandra Shekhar Azad Agriculture University to address students, as a result of political manipulation by the Chief Minister Mayawati.[28] Subsequently, the Vice-Chancellor of the university, V.K. Suri, was ousted by the Governor Shri T.V. Rajeswar (who is also the Chancellor), a Gandhi family supporter and appointer of Suri.[29] The incident was cited as evidence of the politicization of education, and a cartoon in the Times of India by Ajit Ninan went: "Dynasty related questions are answered by Rahulji’s foot soldiers."[30]

In January 2009 he was criticized by the BJP for the visit with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, in a village near Amethi, his parliamentary constituency in Uttar Pradesh. BJP Spokesman Sudheendra Kulkarni termed it as "Poverty Tourism". It was further considered as "greatest diplomatic disaster" because of Miliband's unsolicited advice on terrorism and Pakistan as well as the way he conducted himself in his closed-door meetings with Mr. Mukherjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.[31]

[edit] Austerity Drive

Gandhi had advised austerity for all the Congress members and claims to wear simple clothes and not waste money. He said it is the duty of all politicians to be austere.[32] It is alleged that he has a personal biking track as well as one for go-karting.[33] Rahul Gandhi has a ministerial bungalow (He is only a 2-term MP), and a fully equipped gym at home. He is a regular member of at least two of the Delhi's poshest gyms, and one of them is 5-star.[34] Rahul Gandhi's trip to Chennai to campaign for austerity cost the party Rs 1 Crore.[35] Rahul Gandhi took a train in AC chair car to Ludhiana and saved Rs 445.[36] Rahul Gandhi traveled back to New Delhi in the Swarn Shatabdi Express, which was stoned for unknown reasons.[37]. His recent visit to Kerala invited much criticism despite the fact that he traveled class. Six bullet proof cars were brought in for his visit from Delhi.

[edit] Controversies

[edit] Swiss Bank Accounts

Swiss magazine Schweizer Illustrierte [2] in 11 November 1991 revealed that Rahul was the beneficiary of accounts worth $2 billion dollars controlled by his mother Sonia Gandhi.[38][39]

Harvard scholar Yevgenia Albats cited KGB correspondence about payments to Rajiv Gandhi and his family, which had been arranged by Viktor Chebrikov,[40][41][42] which shows that KGB chief Viktor Chebrikov sought in writing an "authorization to make payments in US dollars to the family members of Rajiv Gandhi, namely Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Paola Maino, mother of Sonia Gandhi" from the CPSU in December 1985. Payments were authorized by a resolution, CPSU/CC/No 11228/3 dated 20/12/1985; and endorsed by the USSR Council of Ministers in Directive No 2633/Rs dated 20/12/1985. These payments had been coming since 1971, as payments received by Sonia Gandhi's family and "have been audited in CPSU/CC resolution No 11187/22 OP dated 10/12/1984.[40] In 1992 the media confronted the Russian government with the Albats disclosure. The Russian government confirmed the veracity of the disclosure and defended it as necessary for "Soviet ideological interest."[41][42]

On 14 June 2002, the Delhi High Court peremptorily dismissed a Writ Petition (WP(C) 3856/2002)[43][verification needed] filed by Janata Party President, former Union Minister Dr. Subramanian Swamy[44][verification needed] seeking CBI inquiry into allegations by a Russian journalist Dr. Albats that KGB funds were paid to members of the Gandhi family.[citation needed]

[edit] Boston Airport

In 2005 Four lawyers including Prem Chandra Sharma filed a public litigation petition in the High Court. They requested that information be made available to the public in regard to an incident on September 21, 2001 at Boston Airport where Rahul Gandhi and his Spanish girlfriend Veronique[45] were detained by the FBI for questioning, and verification if Mr. Gandhi was carrying $200,000 in cash which he was unable to explain to the airport authorities.[46][47]

The lawyers provided further evidence that Mr. Gandhi's release may have been secured by Brijesh Mishra the then principal secretary to the Prime Minister. The petition sought a writ of mandamus to the Indian ambassador to the US and the Union Home Secretary to make a disclosure about the episode.[46] However previously, The Hindu newspaper had reported that according to "a senior" Indian diplomat there had been no involvement by the Indian envoy to the US in the matter.[47]

[edit] Education

Gandhi's legal affairs team responded, when Newsweek alleged in late-2006 that he had not completed his degrees at Harvard and Cambridge or kept his job at the Monitor Group, by issuing a legal notice, following which the news outlet hastily retracted or qualified their earlier statements.[48]

His admission to St Stephen's College was controversial as he was admitted on the basis of his abilities as a competitive pistol shooter, which was disputed.[6] He left the college in 1990, after one year of education.[49]

His statement that during his year-long stay at St Stephen's, students who asked questions in class “were looked down upon” evoked a strict denial from the college. He said that when he was studying at St Stephen’s College, asking a question was not (perceived to be) good in our class and one was looked down upon if you asked too many questions. Teachers at the college said Gandhi’s statement could at best be “his personal experience” and not a grounds for generalization of the academic environment at St Stephen’s.[50]

[edit] Family pride

During the Uttar Pradesh election campaign in 2007, he said that "if anyone from the Gandhi-Nehru family had been active in politics then, the Babri Masjid would not have fallen". This was interpreted as an attack on P.V. Narasimha Rao, the Prime Minister who headed the Congress-led government during the demolition of the mosque in 1992. Gandhi's statement triggered a controversy with some members of BJP, the Samajwadi Party and the Left, who variously dubbed him as both "anti-Hindu" and "anti-Muslim".[51]

His remarks on members of India's independence movement and the Nehru-Gandhi family have been criticized by BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu who asked "Will the Gandhi family take responsibility for imposition of emergency?"[52]

[edit] Comparison of RSS and SIMI

During a visit to Madhya Pradesh in October 2010, he compared the RSS with the banned terrorist organization SIMI saying RSS is also fanatical and fundamental like SIMI. These statements of his, got huge criticism from different quarters of the country. The BJP reaction was - "Only a sick mind can do it (compare RSS to SIMI). He seems to have lost his mental balance

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rahul_Gandhi