Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, whose name surfaced in the court documents and files linked to disgraced US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, launched a sharp attack on Rahul Gandhi for raising the issue in Parliament, saying the Congress leader “needs to grow up”. He accused the Leader of the Opposition of indulging in “politics by innuendo” and said his remarks reflected “streaks of buffoonery”.
In an exclusive interview with India Today, Puri said he had personally informed Gandhi about the context in which his name appeared in a limited number of emails among millions of Epstein files documents that have surfaced publicly. He added that had Gandhi read the note, he would not have “made a fool of himself” in Parliament.
“So, this is not about Epstein. This story is about the lack of maturity and the fact that the Leader of the Opposition — who believes in politics by innuendo and follows a ‘spit and fly’ approach — hasn’t grown up,” Puri said.
Escalating his attack, Puri remarked that in the civil services there is a provision for voluntary retirement for non-performing officials, adding, “He has not grown up.”
Describing Gandhi’s approach as “politics by innuendo,” Puri accused him of making allegations and then avoiding substantive debate. “If you want to raise an issue, you must do your research and allow the other side to respond. What he does is say something and then run away,” Puri said, adding that Parliament is a forum for informed participation, not insinuation.
“I have always said that the essence of freedom of speech, the essence of democracy, the essence of parliamentary participation is in taking part in a discussion, not by spit and fly,” he said.
Slamming Rahul Gandhi over his criticism of the trade deal with the US — which he described as a “wholesale surrender” and a “selling out of Bharat Mata” — the minister said the Congress leader was “jealous that India is doing well, because he does not believe in the aspirations of the people”.
“As my colleague and friend Kiren Rijiju said, to allege that the Prime Minister surrendered ‘Koi Maaika Laal abhi paida nahi hua (no one brave enough has been born yet)’ to level such a charge against Narendra Modi,” he said, continuing his attack.
The minister further alleged that “Gandhi’s performance displayed elements of buffoonery”.
“There are two kinds of politics, one they dedicate their lives to the nation, have no private attachments, no private property, I should have said. And the second, who provide entertainment value through streaks of buffoonery, period,” Puri said.
On linking him to Jeffrey Epstein, the minister explained his name appears in only two emails among nearly three million documents that were made public. He said he served as India’s Ambassador to the United States from May 2009 to 2017 and met Epstein four times over eight years in connection with his role as Secretary General of the Independent Commission for Multilateralism (ICM), a project of the International Peace Institute (IPI).
“I met hundreds of people every year in my official capacity,” Puri said.
He claimed he was “ambushed” into attending one of the meetings as part of a delegation and said that once concerns about Epstein became clearer, he and others distanced themselves.
Puri also rejected suggestions that his interactions were inappropriate. Referring to an email exchange cited in media reports, he said it involved discussions on investment opportunities in India and advice to LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman about expanding in Indian languages.
The minister maintained that the issue had been publicly available for months and alleged that Gandhi chose to raise it without examining the facts.
