Allegations flew thick and fast at the Congress’s legal conclave on Saturday. Rahul Gandhi accused late BJP minister Arun Jaitley of having threatened him. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge claimed Jagdeep Dhankhar had been asked to either rescind his admittance of the impeachment motions against two high court judges, or quit.

In a freewheeling speech, Rahul reiterated that he would soon offer proof of fraudulent voter enrolment by election authorities, done allegedly at the behest of the BJP.

On Jaitley, he said: “Arun Jaitleyji was sent to threaten me. And he said that if you carry on down this path, opposing the government, fighting us on the farm laws, we will have to act against you.

“I looked at him and said, ‘I do not think you know who you are talking to…. Because we are Congress people, we are not cowards. The British could not bend us. The superpower could not bend us. Who the hell are you?’”

Jaitley, who held several Union ministry berths in multiple BJP-led governments, died in August 2019.

Rahul aired his “atom bomb” charge against the Election Commission (EC) — relating to alleged voter list fraud — for the third time.

The poll panel maintains that the Congress never appealed against any entry on the electoral list in Karnataka — where the alleged fraud took place — nor has it moved court against any Lok Sabha election result from Karnataka.

“Six-and-a-half-lakh voters vote, and 1.5 lakh of those voters are fake. It is based on documentation we got from the EC,” Rahul said.

“We went comparing photograph by photograph, name by name. And you will see the shock wave that is going to go through the electoral system when we release this data. It is literally like an atom bomb,” he added.

“Please remember one thing — that the PM of India enjoys a very slim majority. If 10-15 seats were rigged, and we suspect the actual figures to be closer to 70-80 to 100, he would not have been the Prime Minister of the country.”

In an apparent allusion to an alleged lynching in Fatehpur, Uttar Pradesh, Rahul held up a copy of the Constitution and said: “We are not just defending this red book, this legal document. We are defending a way of life.

“Tell me, which Indian tradition, which Hindu tradition said that you should beat up a Muslim child?... Our tradition says everybody is the same.”

Jaitley’s son Rohan — who heads Delhi’s cricket association — posted on X: “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 added: “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.”

Congress MP Manickam Tagore responded to him on X, saying Rahul was referring to Jaitley meeting him in 2015 to pass the Land Acquisition Amendment Bill in the Rajya Sabha.

In his speech, Kharge said: “The BJP and Modiji were very happy when the former Chairman (of the Rajya Sabha, Dhankhar) would send us out, suppress us, speak against us and suspend us….

He added: “When he began to speak independently and assert himself according to the rules, he accepted the impeachment motions against Allahabad (High Court) judge Shekhar Yadav and Justice Yashwant Varma. Then they threatened him: Either you withdraw the motions you have admitted, or give your resignation.”

In a message read out to the gathering, Congress parliamentary party chairperson Sonia Gandhi said: “Today, the Constitution is under siege. The BJP-RSS, which never fought for freedom or upheld equality, now uses its power to dismantle the very framework it long opposed.

“Their ideological forebear glorified Manusmriti, rejected the Tricolour, and envisioned a Hindu Rashtra where democracy is hollow and discrimination is the law.”

Abhishek Manu Singhvi, chairman of the Congress’s law, human rights and RTI department, said: “This is not a moment to lament — it is a moment to lead. Let our message from this event be loud and clear: We will not allow this constitutional coup to succeed.

“We will not allow India to become a nation of one voice, one party, one ideology. India is not a painting in monochrome; it is a mural of many millions; erase one hue and the canvas cracks.”