Rahul Gandhi

Some Lesser Known Facts About Rahul Gandhi

• Rahul was born as the 1st of the 2 children of Rajiv Gandhi and Italy-born Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi, India.

• He is the grandson of late Indira Gandhi (Former Prime Minister of India) and Feroze Gandhi.

  

• He is the great-grandson of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

• Because of the Sikh extremism after Indira Gandhi’s assassination, Rahul was mostly home-schooled along with his sister.

• After his father’s assassination in 1991, he shifted to Rollins College from Harvard University due to security reasons.

  

• He used the name- “Raul Vinci” in his college days in order to keep his Identity secret.

  

• After graduation, Rahul Gandhi worked at a management consulting firm in London, Monitor Group; this was his first job, and his first pay cheque was around £2500 or £3000. ^[25]Rahul Gandhi – YouTube

• He became one of the directors of Backops Services Private Ltd (a Mumbai-based technology outsourcing firm).

• In 2004, he announced to take part in the active politics and contested his first Lok Sabha election from Amethi constituency in Uttar Pradesh and won with a victory margin of over 1 lakh.

• Rahul Gandhi didn’t hold any position in the Indian National Congress until 2006.

• He is often mocked as ‘Pappu’ on social media. Once, former cabinet minister Venkaiah Naidu called him ‘Pappu Ji’ in the Lok Sabha. Since then social media has made many trolls of his name.

• In December 2017, Rahul Gandhi was elected the President of the Indian National Congress. He was elected unopposed as no other candidate filed his nomination.

• When Rahul Gandhi visited Singapore in 2018, his government’s development (in Congress Regimes) was questioned by a journalist.

• On 21 July 2018, during his speech in parliament, he unexpectedly hugged PM Narendra Modi and winked towards party colleagues.

• He holds a black belt in Aikido, a modern Japanese martial art. He used to box in college. ^[26]Rahul Gandhi – YouTube

• Rahul was criticised during a Lok Sabha debate on a no-confidence motion on 9 August 2023 for seemingly blowing a flying kiss towards the treasury benches that were booing him as he left after his speech. Lok Sabha member Smriti Irani described this behaviour as misogynistic, while DCW chief Swati Maliwal questioned Irani’s silence on Brij Bhushan‘s purported sexual misconduct towards Indian Olympic wrestlers through a tweet in response to her statement against Rahul Gandhi.

• In 2024, he won from Raebareli and Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency. Later, it was decided that he would retain Raebareli’s seat and give up Wayanad’s seat. Priyanka Gandhi then contested from Wayanad.

• He is a dog lover and often shares pictures of his pet dogs on social media.

  

• In September 2024, news began circulating on social media that Rahul might get married to Praniti Shinde, a Member of the Parliament. The news of their romantic involvement had been circulating since they were seen holding hands during the Bharat Jodo Yatra.