Hardeep Puri shared details of ‘Digital India’ with Epstein before official launch: Congress

The Congress on Friday intensified its attack on Union petroleum minister Hardeep Singh Puri, alleging that he shared details about the government’s flagship ‘Digital India’ programme with late disgraced financier and child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein months before it was officially launched in India.

Citing an email dated 14 November 2014, the Congress claimed that Epstein had written to LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, referring to information about ‘Digital India’, a programme formally launched by the Modi government in July 2015.

“This means that Hardeep Puri had already shared information about ‘Digital India’ with Epstein before the citizens of India themselves knew about it,” Congress spokesperson and head of the party’s publicity department Pawan Khera said at a press conference on Friday.

Khera further questioned how Puri had access to such information at the time, given he had joined the BJP in January 2014. “Where did Hardeep Puri get this information from when he was not even part of the government?” he asked.

Puri had on Wednesday admitted to writing an email to Reid Hoffman describing India as a “terrific opportunity” and encouraging Hoffman to visit the country.

In response to a question, Puri said he had mentioned initiatives like ‘Digital India’ and ‘Make in India’ in November 2014, even though they were officially launched later. He argued that this showed he understood the direction in which the Modi government was moving.

Raising a “moral question”, the Congress claimed that leaders in seven countries had resigned over alleged links connected to Epstein. “When will Prime Minister Narendra Modi ask Puri to resign?”.

Khera also targeted the prime minister, noting that this was the same Hardeep Singh Puri whom Modi inducted into the Union Cabinet even before he became a Member of Parliament. "Between 2014 and 2016, there were three Indian ambassadors in America. The question is — on whose instructions was the retired Hardeep Singh Puri being sent to meet Epstein?" Khera asked.

The party also pointed out that despite knowing that Epstein had been convicted of sexual offences against underaged girls in 2008, Puri, who was serving as president and chairman of the governing council of the Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), wrote emails to him.

Khera questioned why a representative associated with a government-funded institution was in communication with Epstein, a convicted sex offender. Even earlier, between 2014 and 2016, under whose authority and instructions was Hardeep Puri interacting with Epstein? 

Simultaneously, Congress MPs on Friday held a protest at the Parliament House complex demanding Puri's resignation. Several MPs lined up outside the Parliament building and raised slogans against him, while demanding answers from him. They also held a big banner with pictures of Puri and Jeffery Epstein.

At his press conference on Wednesday, Puri had criticised Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi for "passing innuendos" against him, asserting that he had met Epstein on a "few occasions", but the interactions had nothing to do with the crimes he was involved in.

With PTI inputs