Being a founder member of Biju Janata Dal, he served as the general secretary of the party from upon its formation in 1998 till 2005.

He was also awarded with the title of Utkala Jyoti in 1996 by the then Deputy chief minister of Odisha, Basant Kumar Biswal on the behalf of Freedom Fighter's Organisation.

[8][9] Gandhi's political career started as early as in his youth days when he was elected as the President of the Students Union at Gangadhar Meher College.

In 1987 Vishwanath Pratap Singh, the former Prime Minister of India founded the Jan Morcha (The people's front), Gandhi served as the President of the party's regional youth branch in Odisha.

Under the influence of Biju Patnaik, Hussain joined the undivided Janata Dal in 1988 and was appointed the General secretary of the party by Pattnaik.

In the 1989 General elections he was appointed the Vice Chairman of the campaign committee of the Janta Dal and finally in 1990, after the massive victory of the party in the state assembly elections, Hussain was appointed the chairman of Odisha state leather corporation Ltd by Biju Patnaik.

Hussain was one among the founding members of the party along with Dilip Ray, Bijoy Mohapatra, Prasanna Acharya, Ananga Udaya Singh Deo and Amar Sathpathy.

In January 1998 he was appointed the General Secretary of the Biju Janata Dal by the current chief minister of Odisha, Naveen Patnaik and had served as the party observer for Deogarh and Sambalpur elections.

The Governor of Odisha, Ganeshi Lal said "I am deeply saddened by the death of noted poet, orator and politician Hussain Rabi Gandhi.

"[16][17] Gandhi's last rites were held at Qadam e Rasool, Cuttack and was attended by several prominent personalities including, Subhash Chandra Singh, Bhabani Shankar Dayani, Pravat Biswal, Munna Khan, Prafulla Samal among others.

[18] While Manas Mangaraj, Prasanna Kumar Patasani, Sujeet Kumar, Pratap Jena, Naba Das, Lalatendu Bidyadhar Mohapatra, Ramesh Chandra Majhi, Shashi Bhusan Behera, Sarmistha Sethi, Bhajaman Behara, Dinesh Sarangi, Tathagata Satpathy and other leaders reached out to the family to pay their condolences.