Rahul Gandhi has ignited a fresh controversy by claiming that the late Arun Jaitley, former Finance Minister of India, had threatened him regarding his opposition to the farm laws. This allegation has been met with strong rebuttals from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Jaitley's son, Rohan Jaitley.
Gandhi made the statement at the All India Congress Committee's annual legal conclave in Delhi on Saturday, August 2, 2025. He stated, "I remember when I was fighting the farm laws, Arun Jaitley ji was sent to me to threaten me. He said, 'If you carry on down this path, opposing the government and fighting us on the farm laws, we will have to act against you.' I looked at him and said 'I don't think you have an idea who you are talking to'". Gandhi further added, "We are Congress, not cowards. British couldn't bend us”.
Rohan Jaitley swiftly responded to Gandhi's claims, pointing out the timeline discrepancy. In a post on X, he reminded everyone that his father passed away in 2019, while the farm laws were introduced in 2020. He further asserted that it was not in his father's nature to threaten anyone, emphasizing that Arun Jaitley was a staunch democrat who believed in building consensus through open discussions. Rohan Jaitley urged Rahul Gandhi to "let the departed Rest in Peace".
The BJP has also vehemently denied Gandhi's accusations, labeling them as "fake news". Amit Malviya, head of the BJP's IT cell, provided a detailed timeline, stating that Arun Jaitley passed away on August 24, 2019, while the draft Farm Bills were brought to the Union Cabinet on June 3, 2020, and enacted in September 2020. Malviya argued that any discussions regarding the farm laws would have occurred after these dates, making it impossible for Jaitley to have threatened Gandhi.
Congress leaders, however, have pointed to meetings between Jaitley and Gandhi in 2015 and 2018. The BJP has refuted the claim that Arun Jaitley approached Rahul Gandhi regarding the farm laws, calling the claim factually incorrect and misleading and asking Gandhi to stick to the facts and not rewrite timelines.
