Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was caught spreading fake news regarding farm laws and Late Arun Jaitley on Saturday. Continuing his attack on the electoral system of India, he claimed that Arun Jaitley came to meet him to threaten him, a year after Jaitley had passed away.
Speaking at the Congress Party’s Annual Legal Conclave in New Delhi, Rahul Gandhi claimed that when the Congress party was protesting against farm laws, Arun Jaitley was sent to threaten him. He said, “I remember when I was fighting the farm laws, Arun Jaitley ji was sent to me to threaten me. He told me ‘if you carry on opposing the govt, 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.’”
#WATCH | Delhi: At the Annual Legal Conclave- 2025, Lok Sabha LoP and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi says, “I remember when I was fighting the farm laws, Arun Jaitley ji was sent to me to threaten me. He told me “if you carry on opposing the govt, fighting the farm laws, we will have… pic.twitter.com/8RJWmHo9fE
— ANI (@ANI) August 2, 2025
While making up a story, which is often does, Rahul Gandhi forgot a crucial detail, Arun Jaitley was not alive when the farm laws were introduced and when the farmers in Punjab along with some opposition parties started protesting against them.
BJP leader Arun Jaitley died on 24 August 2019 after fighting multiple illness. He was union finance and corporate affairs minister in the first Modi government, and had handled Defence ministry and Information and Broadcasting ministry for some time.
However, Jaitley had retired from active politics after the NDA won the general elections for the second consecutive time in 2019. A day before Modi govt was to be sworn in on 30th May, Jaitley wrote to Modi opting out of the cabinet, citing his treatment and health. He died just a few months later on 24th August.
On the other hand, the farm bills came a year after Jaitley’s demise. The bills were approved by the union cabinet on 3 June 2020, and ordinances on them were promulgated on 5th June. The bills were introduced in the parliament in September 2020 to replace the ordinances. The three bills were passed by the both houses of the parliament in September that year. The protests against the laws began in December 2020, more than a year after Arun Jaitley died.
Therefore, Rahul Gandhi is definitely making up the story by claiming that Arun Jaitley was sent to threaten him to stop protests against the farm laws.
The Congress leader also claimed that the election system of India is rigged, because Modi govt has very thin majority. He said, “We are going to prove to you in the coming few days how a Lok Sabha election can be rigged and was rigged.” He further claimed, “The truth is that the election system in India is already dead. The Prime Minister of India is the Prime Minister of India with a very slim majority… If 15 seats were rigged, he would not have been the Prime Minister of India.”
Ironically, Rahul Gandhi forgot that first two Modi governments had BJP majority, but the last three Congress governments were minority governments. Congress didn’t cross the majority mark when P.V. Narasimha Rao and Dr. Manmohan Singh became prime ministers, they led coalition governments.
Arun Jaitley’s son responds
Arun Jaitley’s son Rohan Jaitley responded to the false claim by Rahul Gandhi, pointing out that the farm laws came a year after his father’s death. In a post on X, he said, “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.”
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. More importantly, it was not in my father’s nature to threaten anyone over an opposing view. He was a…— Rohan Jaitley (@rohanjaitley) August 2, 2025
Importantly, he added that even if was Jaitley was alive when the bills were enacted, he would not have threatened anyone for protesting them, as it was not his nature to threaten anyone for opposite views. Rohan Jaitley said, “More importantly, it was not in my father’s nature to threaten anyone over an opposing view. He was a staunch democrat and always believed in building consensus. If at all such a situation was to occur, as it often does in politics, he would invite free and open discussions to arrive at a mutually acceptable solution to all. That was simply who he was and that remains his legacy today.”
Asking Rahul Gandhi be mindful while speaking of those who are no longer with us, he reminded that Rahul Gandhi had attempted something silimar with Manohar Parikar, as he had politicised his final days.