Congress leader and Opposition MP Rahul Gandhi sparked a political firestorm on Saturday after claiming that the late Arun Jaitley was dispatched by the government to "threaten" him during his opposition to the now-withdrawn farm laws — a charge that was met with scathing denials from both BJP leaders and Mr Jaitley's son, Rohan.
Speaking during the 2025 Annual Legal Conclave, Mr Gandhi had recounted what he referred to as a meeting with the then Union Finance Minister, alleging Mr Jaitley threatened him with not standing up to the farm legislations.
"I remember when I was resisting the farm laws, Arun Jaitley was deputed to me in order to threaten me.". He told me, 'If you continue to resist the government, resisting the farm laws, we will be forced to take action against you.' I looked at him and replied 'I don't think you have a notion of who you are speaking with,'" said Mr Gandhi.
The three controversial farm legislations were brought in 2020 and were intended to liberalize farm markets. They were, however, withdrawn following mass protests by farmers nationwide. It should be noted that Arun Jaitley died in 2019 — prior to the laws ever being tabled — and this invited Rohan Jaitley to serve up a scathing refutation on social media.
Countering Mr Gandhi’s claim, Rohan Jaitley, who currently serves as the president of the Delhi and District Cricket Association, reminded the Congress MP of basic chronology. “Rahul Gandhi now claims my late father, Arun Jaitley, threatened him over the farm laws. Let me remind him, my father passed away in 2019. The farm laws were introduced in 2020,” he wrote.
He also stood up for the political ideology of his father, arguing that such behavior was below the nature of the elder BJP leader. "Most importantly, it was not in my father's temperament to intimidate anyone over a differing opinion. He was a die-hard democrat and always thought in terms of consensus.". If at all such a scenario were to ever happen, as it tends to in politics, he would call for free and frank debate to reach a solution acceptable to all. That was just the kind of person he was, and that is his legacy today," Mr Jaitley said.
Rohan also appealed to Mr Gandhi to have the decency while talking about late leaders. "He tried to do something similar with Manohar Parrikar ji, politicising his last days which was in equally bad taste. Let the departed Rest in Peace," he added.
BJP's IT cell head Amit Malviya also slammed Rahul Gandhi, calling him out for spreading misinformation. "Fake News Alert.". Rahul Gandhi alleges that Shri Arun Jaitley had come to him and wanted to dilute his opposition to 2020 Farm Laws. Let's get the facts right: Arun Jaitley ji expired on 24 August 2019. The Union Cabinet was presented with the draft Farm Bills on 3 June 2020. The laws were implemented in September 2020," he shared on X.
Calling the statement “factually incorrect and misleading,” Mr Malviya urged the Congress MP to “stick to facts and rewrite timelines.”
The BJP has categorically dismissed Mr Gandhi’s remarks as false, stating that the claim lacks both evidence and logic, given the timeline of Mr Jaitley’s death and the legislative process of the farm bills.
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