Rahul Rajiv Gandhi (রাহুল গান্ধী) is an Indian politician. A member of the Indian National Congress (INC), he is currently serving as the 12th leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha and as the member of the Lok Sabha for Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh, since June 2024. He previously represented the constituency of Wayanad, Kerala, from 2019 to 2024, and Amethi, Uttar Pradesh, from 2004 to 2019. Gandhi served as the party president of the Indian National Congress from December 2017 to July 2019.

A member of the Nehru–Gandhi political family, he spent his early years between Delhi and Dehradun, remaining largely outside the public sphere during his childhood and early youth. He received primary education in New Delhi and then attended The Doon School. However, due to security concerns, he was later home-schooled. Gandhi commenced his undergraduate degree at St. Stephen's College before moving to Harvard University. Following his father's assassination and subsequent security concerns, he moved to Rollins College in Florida, completing his degree in 1994. After earning a M.Phil. from Cambridge, Gandhi initiated his professional career with the Monitor Group, a management consulting firm in London. Soon thereafter, he returned to India and founded a technology outsourcing firm based in Mumbai. He ventured into politics in the 2000s, leading the Indian Youth Congress and National Students Union of India, while also being a trustee of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust.

Gandhi was born on 19 June 1970 at Holy Family Hospital in Delhi. He was the first of two children born to Rajiv Gandhi, who later served as the 6th prime minister of India, and Sonia Gandhi, who went on to become the president of the Indian National Congress. As the grandson of former prime minister Indira Gandhi, his lineage is deeply rooted in Indian political history. His paternal grandfather, Feroze Gandhi, hailed from Gujarat and was of Parsi descent. Furthermore, he is the great-grandson of India's inaugural prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.

Gandhi completed his elementary education at St. Columba's School in New Delhi. He then attended The Doon School in Dehradun (an elite all-boys' boarding school, also the alma mater of his father, Rajiv Gandhi) from 1981 to 1983. At Doon, Gandhi studied alongside notable contemporaries, including former Congress members Jyotiraditya Scindia and Jitin Prasada. Following the assassination of Indira Gandhi by Sikhs in her personal guard on 31 October 1984, his father entered politics and became the 6th prime minister of India. Due to security threats from Sikh extremists, Gandhi and his sister Priyanka were home-schooled, taking examinations under the supervision of teachers. Spending their childhood away from media attention, Gandhi and his sister kept low profiles, appearing with their parents at a handful of public occasions.