Congress asks what advice Modi took from Epstein after ‘dancing and singing in Israel’

PM Narendra Modi’s troubles appear far from over. Even as the controversy over the now-withdrawn UGC Equity Law continues to simmer, a fresh political storm has erupted—this time triggered by references to the Prime Minister’s name in the second tranche of the Epstein files, delivering a big jolt to the carefully cultivated Brand Modi.

The latest batch of documents, released by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) on 30 January, runs into over 3.5 million pages and includes nearly 2,000 videos and 180,000 images linked to the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein — an American human trafficker, child sex offender, serial rapist, and financier who died by suicide on 10 August, 2019.

Among the released documents is an email dated 9 July 2017, in which Epstein allegedly wrote: “The Indian Prime Minister Modi took advice and danced and sang in Israel for the benefit of the US President. They had met a few weeks ago. IT WORKED!”

It is worth recalling here that Modi did meet then US President Donald Trump in Washington on 25–26 June, 2017, and went on a historic visit to Israel on 4 July 2017—the first by an Indian Prime Minister.

Congress argued that this chronology lends weight to questions raised by the email, calling the alleged reference “shameful for India”.

The principal opposition party has seized on the disclosure to mount a frontal attack on the Prime Minister, and asked: What kind of “advice”, it asked, was Narendra Modi taking from Jeffrey Epstein? What did Epstein mean by claiming that Modi’s actions in Israel “worked”? And how, exactly, did Donald Trump benefit?

“Prime Minister Modi, the nation wants to know—what was your relationship with Jeffrey Epstein?” the Congress demanded.

Congress leader and head of the party’s publicity department, Pawan Khera, went a step further, claiming that Modi had met Epstein again around the time of the 2019 general elections.

“Why was Modi meeting a disgraced American such as Epstein right around the elections?” Khera asked, also accusing the Prime Minister of misleading the country about his standing in Washington.

“Why was Modi lying to the country about his friendship with America when no one in ‘Wash’ cared to speak to him?” he said.

Politically, the timing of the disclosure is being seen as embarrassment for the ruling party.

The release of the Epstein files came just a day before the Modi government is set to present the Union Budget, and only days after the government faced criticism for withdrawing the contentious UGC Equity Law—moves that signal growing pressure on the Modi government.

The government, however, has dismissed the allegations outright.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) termed the references in the Epstein email as "trashy ruminations by convicted criminalbaseless".

“Beyond the fact of the Prime Minister’s official visit to Israel in July 2017, the rest of the allusions in the email are little more than trashy ruminations by a convicted criminal, which deserve to be dismissed with the utmost contempt,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.

Meanwhile, U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the latest release marked the conclusion of disclosures mandated under a bipartisan law requiring all Epstein-related files to be made public.

He noted that the documents—spanning more than three million pages—were released weeks after the 19 December deadline set by Congress, despite attempts by the Trump administration to block their publication.

While the government has moved quickly to shut down the controversy, political observers believe the issue is unlikely to fade anytime soon. With opposition parties determined to keep the spotlight on the disclosures and a crucial Budget session underway, the Epstein references are being seen as yet another jolt to the government.