NEW DELHI: The Congress on Wednesday sharpened its attack on Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri over his remarks on alleged links to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.Party leader Pawan Khera raised six pointed questions and accused the minister of playing down the seriousness of Epstein’s crimes.The row escalated after Puri, responding to Lok Sabha leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi, said that he had met Epstein “three or four times” over eight years in a “professional capacity” and that the details were already in the public domain following the release of “three million emails”.Giving context to his attack, Khera referred to an alleged October 4, 2014, email exchange that is part of documents released by the US Department of Justice.Referring to how the interaction allegedly began, he wrote in a post on X, “Today, Hardeep Singh Puri said that his ‘contacts’ introduced him to Reid Hoffman. But what he didn’t say matters more. On October 4, 2014, Epstein emailed Hardeep: ‘Did Reid meeting happen?’ Hardeep replied within hours: ‘I am in SF for meeting this afternoon. You, my friend, make things happen. Any advice?’ Epstein responded: ‘Tell him you will organize his trip to India, to meet with science and tech people and social networking gurus.’”Khera then raised six questions:
- How did Epstein know about Hardeep’s meeting with Reid even before it had happened?
- Was Epstein the “contact” who set up the meeting with Reid Hoffman?
- Why was Hardeep discussing the meeting details with him at all?
- Why was Epstein being addressed as a ‘friend’?
- What was Epstein making happen for Hardeep?
- Why was Hardeep seeking ‘advice’ from Epstein if their association was supposedly incidental or superficial?
He also added a post-script which read, “Almost surreal watching Hardeep lose his composure and stutter in anger. Hard to believe this is the same man who once represented India as a diplomat – what a dramatic fall in stature!”In a separate post, Khera accused Puri of trivialising Epstein’s conviction.“Did he just attempt to trivialise Epstein’s crimes? He says that in 2008 Epstein pleaded guilty to ‘soliciting favours of a woman who was underage. That’s it? An ‘underage woman’ is a minor. Basically, a child. And you reduce sexual exploitation of a child to ‘that’s it’? Epstein didn’t just face rumours. He pleaded guilty in a Florida court and was convicted. The crime was established in law. Yet you say ‘many of you had doubts.’ Doubts about what – his own confession?” he wrote. The Congress leader strongly criticised what he described as an attempt to downplay the seriousness of Epstein’s conviction and questioned the minister’s remarks on the issue.He wrote, “Must God descend from the heavens personally to confirm Epstein’s crime to you? It is deeply disturbing to hear an Indian Union Minister speak about sexual crimes against minors with such casual detachment. Public office demands moral clarity, not minimisation of abuse. Do us a favour, keep this monstrosity at home, and don’t ever come out justifying crimes against women and children like this!”At a press conference at the BJP headquarters, Puri accused Gandhi of making “baseless allegations” and said that his remarks in Parliament had “elements of buffoonery” and “entertainment value”.Clarifying his position, Puri said, “There are references to possibly three or four meetings in eight years… Any contact I had with him has no connection to the serious allegations of sexual abuse filed by victims.” He added, “My interaction had nothing to do with that,” stressing that the meetings were linked to his work as India’s Ambassador to the United Nations and later engagements with the International Peace Institute.The controversy began after Rahul Gandhi claimed he had “verified information” and alleged that “there are Department of Justice files on Epstein naming Hardeep Puri.” The exchange has since triggered a sharp political face-off between the ruling BJP and the Congress.
