Rahul says Arun Jaitley 'threatened' him on farm laws, son Rohan responds with reality check: 'Father died in...'
Earlier in the day, Rahul Gandhi said, while addressing Congress' annual legal conclave at the Vigyan Bhawan, 'I remember when I was fighting the farm laws—he's not here anymore, so I really shouldn't say it, but I will—Arun Jaitley ji was sent to me to threaten me.'
"He said to me, 'If you carry on down this path, opposing the government and fighting us on the farm laws, we will have to take action against you.'
"I looked at him in the face and said, 'I think you don't know or have an idea who you're talking to. Because, we are Congress people, and we're not cowards. We never bend; the superpower British couldn't bend us and who the hell are you'." Rahul Gandhi added.
Responding back to Rahul Gandhi's claims, Rohan Jaitley, son of the former union minister, slammed him over his remarks. Jaitley's son Rohan also took to X, saying, "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," he wrote.
'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.'
"I would appreciate Rahul Gandhi being mindful while speaking of those not with us. He attempted something similar with Manohar Parrikar ji, politicising his final days which was in equally poor taste," he added.
Apart from this, BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya wrote on X, "Fake News Alert. Rahul Gandhi claims that Arun Jaitley approached him to water down his opposition to the 2020 farm laws. Let's set the record straight – Arun Jaitley ji passed away on August, 24 2019."
"The draft Farm Bills were brought to the Union Cabinet on June 3, 2020. The laws were enacted in September 2020," he said.
"To suggest Arun Jaitley ji approached him for anything at all is factually incorrect and misleading," he said, adding, "Let's stick to facts and not rewrite timelines to suit narratives."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scroll.in
7 minutes ago
- Scroll.in
‘Misleading': EC rejects Congress claims of voters added in Tamil Nadu amid Bihar roll revision
The Election Commission on Sunday rejected claims made by Congress leader P Chidambaram that reports had shown 6.5 lakh persons were added to the electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu amid the special intensive revision of the voter list in Bihar. The poll panel described the claims as being 'misleading and baseless' and added that the exercise to revise electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu is yet to begin. 'It is therefore absurd to connect the SIR exercise in Bihar with TN,' said the Election Commission. 'Such peddling of false statements with respect to SIR should be avoided.' ❌ The statements made are Misleading and Baseless #ECIFactCheck ✅Read in detail in the image attached 👇 — Election Commission of India (@ECISVEEP) August 3, 2025 On Sunday, Chidambaram said that reports of migrant workers from Bihar being enrolled as voters in Tamil Nadu were 'alarming and patently illegal'. 'Calling them 'permanently migrated' is an insult to the migrant workers and a gross interference in the right of the electorate of Tamil Nadu to elect a government of its choice,' the Congress leader said in a social media post. He added: 'Why should the migrant worker not return to Bihar (or his/her home state) to vote in the state Assembly election, as they usually do?' To be enrolled as a voter, a person must have a permanent or fixed address, wrote Chidambaram, adding that migrant workers have such homes in the states they come from. 'If the migrant worker's family has a permanent home in Bihar and lives in Bihar, how can the migrant worker be considered as 'permanently migrated' to Tamil Nadu?' he asked. Rejecting the claims, the Election Commission stated that such reports were being 'deliberately peddled in the media with a view to obstruct' the voter roll revision exercise. 'There is no need for political leaders to spread false information with respect to the SIR exercise being conducted by EC at the national level,' the poll body said, adding that exact figures about voters who have permanently shifted from Bihar to other states can only be known after a similar exercise is conducted there. Earlier, leaders of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the ruling party in Tamil Nadu, had accused the poll panel of 'attempting to reshape the political demographics of the state', reported The Indian Express. 'This is a problem in Tamil Nadu as they [migrants] came to work here as guest workers,' party general secretary Duraimurugan was quoted as saying by the newspaper. 'But giving them voter IDs will result in political change in the future. If such attempts are made, we will become roaring lions to oppose it.' The draft electoral roll in Bihar was published on Friday as part of the special revision of the electoral rolls in the state, which was announced by the Election Commission on June 24. As part of the exercise, persons whose names were not on the 2003 voter list will need to submit proof of eligibility to vote. This means that 2.9 crore out of the state's 7.8 crore voters – or about 37% of the electors – will have to submit documentary evidence. Voters born before July 1, 1987, must show proof of their date and place of birth, while those born between July 1, 1987, and December 2, 2004, must also submit documents establishing the date and place of birth of one of their parents. Those born after December 2, 2004, will need proof of date of birth for themselves and both parents. The draft voter list published on Friday comprises electors who submitted their enumeration forms to the poll panel between June 24 and July 26. They will now have to produce proof of citizenship to make it to the final list that will be published on September 30. With the publication of the list, electors have a month to raise claims and objections, during which eligible voters can be added and ineligible names excluded. During this period, voters who believe their names were wrongly deleted can approach the relevant authorities for redressal. Exclusions higher among women, Muslim-dominated districts A Scroll analysis of the data published by the Election Commission on Friday showed that women made up 55% of voters who were excluded from Bihar's draft voter list after the revision. It also showed that five of the state's 10 districts with the largest share of Muslim population had the highest number of excluded voters. At 15.1%, Gopalganj district in western Bihar saw the highest rate of exclusion in the state. The voter list in the district's Gopalganj Assembly constituency shrunk by 18.25% – also the highest in the state. The draft roll also removed nearly 65.6 lakh voters. Of them, 22.3 lakh were dead, 36.3 lakh had permanently moved or were absent, and 7 lakh were enrolled in multiple places, the Election Commission said.
Mint
7 minutes ago
- Mint
‘A for Akhilesh', ‘B for Babasaheb': FIR against SP leader Farhad Alam over ‘PDA Pathshala'
Samajwadi Party leader (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over an FIR filed against a local SP leader in Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur for allegedly teaching 'politicised alphabets' to children. SP City Vyom Bindal said a complaint was filed by Main Singh, a resident of the Kallarpur Gurjar village, alleging that local SP leader Farhad Alam Gada was teaching children "politicised alphabets" at a 'PDA Pathshala.' According to news agency PTI, the complainant said that the children were taught "A for Akhilesh", "B for Babasaheb", "D for Dimple," and "M for Mulayam Singh Yadav". The incident came to light after a purported video of the lesson, recorded at the SP leader's home in Ramnagar, was posted on social media and went viral. The children in the video were reportedly from a private school and were seen wearing their uniforms. In his defense, Farhad Gada had previously claimed that the "PDA Pathshala" was not just for teaching ABCs but also to educate children about the 'great men of Samajwadi ideology,' PTI reported. He had also stated his intention to open similar schools across the district. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav posted on 'X', 'Even the British did not file an FIR for studying. The anti-education face of the BJP has now been exposed to the public. Now the BJP will be gone forever. Condemnable.'
Time of India
7 minutes ago
- Time of India
Congress – singing the tune of Pakistan
Keshav Upadhye, a young, dynamic and prominent face, has been working with the Bharatiya Janata Party for over two decades. In 2014, the then state president Devendra Fadnavis had appointed Upadhye as the spokesperson in his team. Owing to his journalistic background and better understanding of the socio-economic issues of the state, Upadhye made a mark as a spokesperson in a short span. He articulates the views of the party and aggressively defends the party on various platforms including the Marathi and Hindi national news channels. Keshav Upadhye worked for the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and after completing his degree in Journalism from Ranade Institute, Pune, he began his career as a journalist with daily Pudhari, Loksatta and Mumbai Tarun Bharat. Knowing the pulse of the news, he writes on varied topics and on various platforms like the newspapers, blogs and other social media platforms. He was involved in two study groups formed by the Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini in 2006 to study the naxalite movement and its adverse impact on the development of Chhatisgarh. The Prabodhini later published this report. He was also a part of the Prabodhini's fact-finding committee formed to study the Solapur riots. LESS ... MORE Parliament recently held a discussion on 'Operation Sindoor', a joint operation by the Indian armed forces against terrorist outfits in Pakistan. Entire opposition including Congress were consistently demanding a discussion in Parliament on this issue. Congress' prince Rahul Gandhi and his sidekicks were also alleging that the government is not ready to discuss this subject in the parliament. The Modi government refuted the opposition's allegation by discussing this issue in detail. Rahul Gandhi's objection that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not speaking a word on this matter also turned out to be totally false. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar also shed light in detail on various aspects related to 'Operation Sindoor' and the subsequent developments. This helped expose Congress' pro Pakistan stand in front of the nation once again. Congress' prince, while speaking in Lok Sabha, questioned why the action by armed forces against Pakistan was stopped and also bragged that the bravery and courage should have been shown like his grandmother Indira Gandhi. There is absolutely no doubt that Mrs Indira Gandhi showed the courage of breaking Bangladesh from Pakistan and making it an independent nation in 1971. Jan Sangh, the main opposition party at that time, had given its complete support to Indira Gandhi. The world could see the proud picture of the entire opposition standing in solidarity behind Indira Gandhi. The same picture was expected during the time of 'Operation Sindoor'. However, the behaviour of opposition parties over the last eleven years has shown time and again that they do not hesitate to take even an anti-national stand just to oppose Modi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi completely exposed the Congress' stand during his speech in the Lok Sabha. Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, while speaking on this matter in Rajya Sabha, showed another example of his love for Pakistan by raising a question 'Why do you assume that they came from Pakistan?' At the same time Praniti Shinde, daughter of another senior Congress leader and former Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, while making her point in Lok Sabha insulted the Indian armed forces by calling 'Operation Sindoor' a 'Tamasha' performed only for the media. She revealed Congress' traditional love for Pakistan by blatantly lying that the government is not giving information on how many terrorists were killed in 'Operation Sindoor'. In the press conference held immediately after 'Operation Sindoor', the Indian armed forces had clearly stated that the only purpose behind this operation was to destroy terrorist camps in Pakistan. In this operation India targeted 4 terrorist camps located 100 km inside Pakistan and destroyed 5 camps in POK with great precision. Officials of the Indian armed forces had informed in a press conference in New Delhi that the bases of the terrorist organizations Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba have been destroyed. Despite that, a public representative like Praniti Shinde in Lok Sabha by asking questions like 'what exactly was achieved by this operation' and calling 'Operation Sindoor' a 'Tamasha', cast a doubt on the actions of the Indian armed forces. Congress has this old habit of insulting the armed forces. Pakistan launched missile attacks targeting civilian settlements in India after 'Operation Sindoor'. However, the Indian armed forces repelled all these attacks. After that the Indian armed forces showed its strength by targeting army bases in Pakistan. Terrified by these attacks, Pakistan pleaded with India to stop the attacks. The Indian armed forces had also clearly stated that they have temporarily stopped 'Operation Sindoor' at Pakistan's request as the aim of teaching Pakistan a lesson had been achieved. Leaders of the ruling party, ministers at centre were not briefing the media throughout this period. All the briefings regarding this operation, losses suffered by Pakistan in this operation were officially done by representatives of the Indian armed forces itself. A modern technique of PowerPoint presentation was used while sharing information about this operation. In spite of this Congress leaders have no shame in doubting the bravery of the Indian armed forces by making statements like what was achieved through 'Operation Sindoor' at the supreme level like Lok Sabha. Few days back, Rahul Gandhi had demanded information on the number of aircrafts shot down by Pakistan in 'Operation Sindoor'. The Indian armed forces had already given a clear explanation on this. Pakistan's Prime Minister had made the ridiculous claim that their army had shot down Indian planes. However, the government of Pakistan failed to provide a single evidence of this. Instead of demanding information about the damage done to Pakistan, Rahul Gandhi was asking for the information on the number of Indian aircrafts that were shot down. Today, Rahul Gandhi is making childish remarks like asking why 'Operation Sindoor' was stopped?, Modi Government lacks courage to take action against Pakistan, but he will conveniently forget that no action was taken against Pakistan after the Mumbai attacks in 2008 despite the readiness of Indian armed forces only because of the weak stand taken by Sonia Gandhi. Rahul Gandhi also forgot that his grandmother unconditionally released over one lakh Pakistani soldiers. The prince is even oblivious to the fact that he is speaking the language of Pakistan just to oppose Modi and BJP. Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Disclaimer Views expressed above are the author's own.
