New Delhi [India], August 2 (ANI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday claimed that the NDA government had sent the late Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to 'threaten' him for trying to fight against the farm laws that were introduced by the Narendra Modi government earlier.

'I remember when I was fighting the farm laws, Arun Jaitley was sent to me to threaten me. He told me, 'If you carry on opposing the government, 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,'' Rahul Gandhi said.

The Congress leader addressing the Annual Legal Conclave 2025 also launched a scathing attack on the Election Commission of India (ECI), alleging its complicity in large-scale voter fraud.

'The truth is that the election system in India is already dead. The Prime Minister of India holds office with a very slim majority. If 15 seats were rigged, we suspect that the number is over 70 to 80, he would not have been the Prime Minister of India. We are going to prove to you in the coming few days how a Lok Sabha election can be rigged and was rigged,' Gandhi said.

The Congress leader went on to credit lawyers, among others, for obtaining freedom from British rule, saying that the freedom movement was fought legally in actuality. However, he alleged that the constitutional architecture built by lawyers was being 'destroyed'.

In the annual legal conclave titled 'Constitutional Challenges - Perspectives & Pathways' organised by Congress, Gandhi said that all talks about the constitution wouldn't happen if it weren't for lawyers.

'You (lawyers) are the people who started Congress. Congress was essentially (made up of) lawyers. We wouldn't have got freedom if the lawyers of this country had not fought for freedom. All this talk about the constitution, the constitution would not be here if it had not been for lawyers,' Gandhi said while addressing the gathering here.

Crediting lawyers for envisioning the constitution, the Leader of Opposition (LoP) Lok Sabha said that the entire constitutional architecture is a result of a legal mind and fraternity, since it would have been impossible for people who don't understand law to frame the constitution.

'Freedom movement was actually fought, in large measure, legally. You are the backbone of the Congress party. You are also the people who envisioned the constitution. It would have been impossible for people who don't understand the law to frame this (constitution). It was the legal mind, fraternity that built the entire architecture,' he added.

Gandhi asserted that the architecture built by lawyers was being 'destroyed' systematically at every front.

'I am telling you this, that it is the architecture that you build, which is being destroyed today. It is being systematically unravelled on every front. Some of it is visible while the other is hidden,' he said.

Speaking on the Rafale deal, Gandhi claimed that a document clearly mentioned that the PMO and the National Security Agency (NSA) interfered with the deal. He said that the document would have brought down any government in any country of the world, but nothing happened.

'We had a document on the Rafale deal. The document said clearly, black and white, that the Prime Minister's office and the NSA have interfered in the Rafale deal and damaged it. This document itself would have brought down any government in any country of the world. Nothing happened. You know where the document went. You know where the document died,' he said.

Several top leaders, including Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, KC Venugopal, Abhishek Singhvi, Ajay Maken, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Mukul Wasnik, Jairam Ramesh, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah, Telangana CM Revanth Reddy, Himachal Pradesh CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, Ashok Gehlot, Bhupinder Hooda, Prithviraj Chavan, Digvijaya Singh, Bhupesh Baghel, Gaurav Gogoi, Salman Khurshid, DK Shivakumar were present at the conclave. (ANI)