- Opposition questions Hardeep Puri’s meetings with Jeffrey Epstein.
- New photos contradict Puri’s earlier delegation-only meeting claim.
- Leaders demand clarity on meetings’ purpose and full context.
Opposition leaders from the Congress, Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) have targeted Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri after sharing photographs of his meetings with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. They have demanded answers about the nature and purpose of the meetings, questioning Puri’s earlier claim that he met Epstein as part of a delegation.
Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate challenged Puri’s statement that he had never met Epstein one-on-one. Sharing the photographs, she questioned the minister’s explanation and also criticised the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) over their approach towards women.
“Didn’t Hardeep Puri say he had never met Epstein one-on-one?” Shrinate asked, adding, “What kind of people does Modi like and chooses to have around him?” She also questioned whether the photographs raised further concerns about the RSS and the political right’s treatment of women.
Didn’t Hardeep Puri say he had never met Epstein one-on-one? What kind of people does Modi like and chooses to have around him? Do you need any more proof – why RSS and the right-wing can never ever respect and treat women as equals? 📸 US Dept of Justice https://t.co/KLWlq9I9C0
— Supriya Shrinate (@SupriyaShrinate) October 20, 2026
Mahua Moitra, NCP (SP) Demand Clarity
TMC MP Mahua Moitra also took a swipe at Puri, sharing a video statement in which the minister had explained his meetings with Epstein.
“Epstein Paaji told us he only met Epstein as part of a delegation 3-4 times. Guess the other delegates were hiding under the table in these 2 photos, Paaji,” Moitra said.
NCP (SP) spokesperson Anish Gawande described the photographs as “damning” and demanded that Puri explain why he met Epstein, including in his capacity as a diplomat.
“I am given to understand that the Government of India will try and justify this engagement as ‘diplomatic necessity.’ However, the terms and content of these discussions must now be made public,” Gawande said.
He added that he hoped Puri had not been aware of the alleged abuses associated with Epstein’s private island and urged the minister to clarify his position.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut also shared a photograph and questioned the purpose of the meeting. Asking whose message Puri was carrying, Raut sought further clarity over the interaction.
What Hardeep Singh Puri Said About Epstein Meetings
In February, Puri said he had met Epstein “three or maximum four” times in a professional capacity as part of a delegation associated with the Independent Commission on Multilateralism (ICM), a project established at the International Peace Institute (IPI).
Puri said the meetings took place after he resigned as India’s ambassador to the United Nations and before he joined the Union Cabinet in 2017. He maintained that his interactions with Epstein were entirely professional and unrelated to the criminal allegations against the financier.
“My boss in the IPI, Terje Rod-Larsen, was the person who knew this particular infamous person Mr Epstein and it is as part of a delegation of the IPI or the ICM that I met Mr Epstein on a few occasions, three or maximum four,” Puri had said.
The opposition’s latest questions centre on the photographs and whether they are consistent with Puri’s account of meeting Epstein as part of a delegation. The allegations raised by opposition leaders do not, by themselves, establish any involvement by Puri in Epstein’s criminal activities.
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