Rahul Gandhi Turns 50 Today: 10 Lesser Known Facts About The Former Congress President

From motivating himself after the assassination of his grandmother and father to helping Nirbhaya's brother achieve his dreams here are some unknown facts on Rahul Gandhi's birthday.

(Photo by Money SHARMA / AFP)

New Delhi: Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi turns 50 today but the congress leader has decided not to celebrate his birthday this year due in view of the COVID-19 pandemic and the death of 20 Army personnel in a stand-off with China in the Galwan Valley of Ladakh. However, Congress has decided to distribute 50 lakh food packets among the poor and personal protection equipment (PPE) kits and masks to corona warriors across the country to mark the 50th birthday of the former party president. Rahul Gandhi the descendant of the most recognized political family of the nation was born on 19th June 1970 in Delhi. People know Rahul Gandhi as the 'Yuvraj' who took on Narendra Modi in the 2014 Lok Sabha election but there is more to him than his role in the Congress party. Here are some lesser-known facts about Rahul Gandhi on his birthday:

• Rahul completed his school in New Delhi and Dehradun, After the assassination of his grandmother in 1984, he was homeschooled with his sister Priyanka as the family was facing a lot of security threats. In the fall of the year 1989, he went to St. Stephen’s College in New Delhi to get a bachelor’s degree in History.
• He later moved switched to Harvard University in the United States in order to complete his graduation. After his father Rajeev Gandhi was assassinated in the year 1991, he returned back to India and joined Rollin’s college.
• Rahul Gandhi went to pursue his M.Phil from Trinity College in the United Kingdom under an alias name of Raul Vincy due to security reasons.

• After graduating from Cambridge, he started working in a London based management consulting firm which goes by the name of the Monitor group. In the year 2002, he returned back to India and started his own outsourcing firm Backops Services PVT Ltd in Mumbai.
• It was in the year 2011 that Rahul Gandhi was arrested by UP police in Bhatta Parsaul village when he was on his way to meet agitated farmers demanding rightful money from landowners who had purchased the land for the highway construction project. However, he was later released, 3 hours after being arrested, and thereafter was asked to leave the place and go to Delhi.
• Rahul Gandhi has a black belt in Aikodo, a Japanese martial art. And his coach, Sensei Paritos Kar told the media that he's been practicing with the young neta since 2009.
• Rahul Gandhi was voted as the most eligible bachelor in India in 2014.
• In 2004, the Congress website called Rahul Gandhi a  “farmer”. Post-2009 Lok Sabha elections, his profession was changed to “strategy consultant”.
• Rahul Gandhi silently looked after Nirbhaya's family after the incident in 2012. He motivated Nirbhaya's brother to pursue his dreams helped him complete his pilot training course. Asha Devi, the mother of victim of the 2012 Nirbhaya gangrape, said to the media that Rahul Gandhi counselled and motivated her son after the heart-rending tragedy.
• "After learning that he wanted to join the defence forces, Rahul asked him to pursue a pilot's training course after completion of school. When he was studying, Rahul used to talk to him over the phone and taught him to adopt a 'never quit' attitude." Asha Devi said.

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