Rahul Gandhi Says Govt Sent Arun Jaitley To 'Threaten' Him In 2020, But BJP Leader Died In 2019
In a bizarre attack on BJP leader Arun Jaitley, who died in August 2019, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Saturday that the government sent the veteran politician to threaten him to stop opposing the farm laws.
Notably, the three farm laws in question were brought in by the Centre in June 2020 as an ordinance, nearly a year after Jaitley's demise at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi after a prolonged illness.
The government had introduced the farm laws in June 2020 as ordinances and later passed them in Parliament in September 2020.
Shooting on the shoulders of Jaitley, Rahul attacked the Centre for his opposition to the farm laws.
Addressing the Annual Legal Conclave- 2025 in the national capital, Rahul described the alleged conversation with Jaitley and 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"."
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Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020, were repealed in November 2021 after massive protests by some farmers on the borders of the national capital.
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.
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