Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, received a strong response from Rohan Jaitley, son of late Union Minister Arun Jaitley, after alleging that the senior BJP leader had been sent by the government to threaten him for opposing the farm laws.

The three contentious farm laws, passed in 2020 to deregulate state-run wholesale markets, were later repealed following widespread farmer protests. Rohan Jaitley noted that the laws were enacted after his father's death.

The BJP also rejected Mr Gandhi’s remarks, calling them “fake news”.

Speaking at the Annual Legal Conclave 2025, Gandhi said Arun Jaitley had warned him of consequences if he continued resisting the laws.

"I recall when I was agitating against the farm laws, Arun Jaitley came to meet me in order to threaten me. He told me, 'If you keep on resisting the government, challenging the farm laws, we will have to take action against you.' I sat back and thought, 'I don't believe you have a clue who you're speaking to'," Gandhi said.

In response, Rohan Jaitley shared a timeline that contradicted the claim. In a detailed post on social media, he stated that his father passed away in 2019, while the farm laws came into force in 2020.

"Rahul Gandhi now says my late father, Arun Jaitley, threatened him over the farm laws. Let me remind him, my father died in 2019. Farm laws were brought in 2020. More importantly, it was not in my father's DNA to threaten anyone on the grounds of a differing opinion. He was an ardent democrat and always functioned on the principle of consensus-building. If at all such a thing were to happen, as happens often in politics, he would seek free and open debates in order to reach a solution that was acceptable to everyone. That was just who he was, and that is his legacy today," Jaitley said.

He also urged Gandhi to be cautious when speaking of the deceased.

"He tried to do the same thing with Manohar Parrikar ji, politicising his last days which was in equally bad taste. Let the deceased Rest in Peace," he added, referring to Mr Gandhi’s earlier comments about the late Defence Minister regarding the Rafale deal.

BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya also weighed in, calling the Congress leader’s statement factually incorrect.

"Fake News Alert. Rahul Gandhi says that Shri Arun Jaitley had met him to dilute his opposition to 2020 Farm Laws. Let us put the record straight: Arun Jaitley ji had expired on 24 August 2019. The draft Farm Bills were taken to the Union Cabinet on 3 June 2020. The laws were enacted in September 2020," Malviya posted on X.