Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has sparked controversy by alleging that the late Arun Jaitley, a prominent BJP leader and former Finance Minister, threatened him during the 2020 farm law protests. Gandhi made these claims at the Annual Legal Conclave 2025 in Delhi.
According to Gandhi, Jaitley was "sent to threaten" him and warned of potential action if he continued to oppose the government and the farm laws. Gandhi stated, "I remember when I was fighting the farm laws, Arun Jaitley was sent to me to threaten me. He told me, 'If you carry on opposing the government, fighting 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'". He used the platform to accuse the Election Commission of being complicit in electoral manipulation and questioned the legitimacy of the Modi government's majority. He also revived the Rafale controversy, alleging that explosive documents proving PMO and NSA interference were buried.
However, Rohan Jaitley, son of the late Arun Jaitley, has refuted Gandhi's claims, calling them "factually inaccurate and disrespectful". Rohan Jaitley pointed out that his father passed away in 2019, before the introduction of the farm laws in 2020. In a post on X, Rohan Jaitley wrote, “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 further emphasized that his father believed in democracy, consensus, and open dialogue, not in threats. Rohan Jaitley stated that his father would have chosen open discussions to find common ground and urged Rahul Gandhi to be more mindful when referring to those who have passed away. He also recalled an earlier incident where Gandhi allegedly politicized Manohar Parrikar's final days, calling it “equally poor taste”.
Gandhi's allegations have surfaced amidst his broader critique of the Narendra Modi government and the Indian electoral system. In his speech, Gandhi also alleged large-scale voter fraud in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. He claimed that the BJP-led NDA government tried to silence him when he opposed the now-repealed farm laws. He said, “If 15 seats were rigged, Modi wouldn't be Prime Minister today,” suggesting a systemic collapse of India's democratic process.
The Election Commission has refuted Rahul Gandhi's "vote-theft" allegations, stating that he never responded to communications and didn't file any complaint, and asked officials to ignore his threats.
The farm laws, which were a set of three agricultural acts passed by the Indian Parliament in 2020, aimed to reform the agricultural sector by creating new avenues for trade and providing farmers with more choices. However, these laws faced widespread opposition from farmers, particularly in Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh, who feared that they would lead to the dismantling of theMinimum Support Price (MSP) system and leave them vulnerable to exploitation by private corporations. The protests, which lasted for over a year, saw farmers camping at the borders of Delhi, demanding the repeal of the laws. The government eventually repealed the farm laws in November 2021.
