Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 2: The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and former Congress president Rahul Gandhi may have dropped a faux pass claiming on Saturday that the late BJP leader and former union minister Arun Jaitley was send by the then government to threaten him against pushing against the three farm laws.
Mr Jaitley’s son Rohan Jaitley quickly fact-checked on Mr Gandhi’s claim and in a post on X pointed out that his father, the former union finance minister died in 2019 while the three farm laws were introduced in 2020 and were rescinded a year later following massive protests by farmers against the three laws.
The BJP, too, snubbed Mr Gandhi’s claims as “fake news.” The three farm laws – comprising three separate legislations that would have deregulated the government-run wholesale markets – were introduced in 2020. The three farm laws, The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020, were repealed in November 2021 after massive protests by some farmers on the borders of the national capital.
Speaking at the Annual Legal Conclave 2025, Mr Gandhi claimed that Arun Jaitley had threatened him with action if he carried on the protest against the three farm laws. “I shouldn’t be saying this since he is no longer with us but I will still say it. I remember when I was fighting the farm laws, Arun Jaitley ji was sent to threaten me. He said ‘if you continue down this path, opposing us on farm laws, we will have to act against you’. I said I don’t think you know who you’re talking to. We are Congress, not cowards. British couldn’t bend us,” Mr Gandhi said.
Rohan Jaitley countered him with a timeline of his father’s death and the farm laws controversy. In a long online post, Mr Jaitley, president of the Delhi and District Cricket Association, said it was not his father’s nature to threaten the opposition; rather, he preferred open discussions.
“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 staunch democrat and always believed in building consensus. If at all such a situation were to occur, as it often does in politics, he would invite free and open discussions to arrive at a mutually acceptable solution for all. That was simply who he was, and that remains his legacy today,” said Mr Jaitley.
He also urged Mr Gandhi to be mindful while speaking of those who have departed. “He attempted something similar with Manohar Parrikar ji, politicising his final days which was in equally poor taste. Let the departed Rest in Peace,” he added, referring to Mr Gandhi’s claims about the former defence minister over the Rafale deal.
BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya also slammed Mr Gandhi. To suggest that Arun Jaitley approached him (Mr Gandhi) for anything at all is factually incorrect and misleading, he said, and asked the Congress leader to stick to facts and not rewrite timelines.
“Fake News Alert. Rahul Gandhi claims that Shri Arun Jaitley approached him to water down his opposition to 2020 Farm Laws. Let’s set the record straight: Arun Jaitley ji passed away on 24 August 2019. The draft Farm Bills were brought to the Union Cabinet on 3 June 2020. The laws were enacted in September 2020,” he wrote on X.
The BJP also demanded Rahul Gandhi’s Apology. BJP MP Anurag Thakur reminded Rahul Gandhi of the timeline of farm laws and said Arun Jaitley had passed away before the Bill was even introduced in Parliament, and demanded an apology from him for a “new lie.”
“Rahul Gandhi comes up with a new lie and a new propaganda every day… I want to remind Rahul Gandhi that Arun Jaitley died on 24th August 2019 and the farm laws were passed on 17th September 2020 and 20th September 2020 in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, respectively… When the Bill came, Arun Jaitley had already died. Rahul Gandhi should apologise to Arun Jaitley’s family, BJP and the entire country,” he said.
Arun Jaitley was a prominent member of Modi 1.0, during which he held key positions such as Defence Minister (from 26 May 2014 to 9 November 2014 and 13 March 2017 to 3 September 2017) and Finance Minister (2014 to 2019). He was the Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha from 2009 to 2014 and Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha from 2014 to 2019. He was also the Minister for Commerce and Industry and Law and Justice during the Vajpayee government.
During the Modi government, he was a part of major economic reforms, such as the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST), Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, and Banking sector reforms.