The Congress on Friday raised questions over emails linked to American financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, claiming they point to early links between Epstein’s network and India’s top political leadership soon after the BJP came to power in 2014.Congress leader Pawan Khera cited an email dated June 5, 2014, just ten days after Narendra Modi was sworn in as Prime Minister, in which Epstein wrote to American billionaire Tom Pritzker: “should we do india together, jaitley and modi.” Pritzker’s response, sent within hours, read: “You will HATE India. I will be amused by your reaction. Let’s look for a time, but not summer.”Khera said the exchange raises “serious and legitimate concerns”, noting that at the time Epstein was already a convicted sex offender.He argued that the reference to Prime Minister Modi and then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley suggested that India’s newly formed political leadership had entered the orbit of Epstein’s international network as early as June 2014.“What this suggests is something important,” Khera said, adding that the BJP had been in power for barely days when Epstein was discussing India in direct reference to the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister.According to Khera, this was not an isolated instance but part of a broader pattern that unfolded over time.Khera pointed to later communications involving Epstein that, he claimed, showed the connection deepening. He referred to Epstein’s conversations with Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri, industrialist Anil Ambani and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, arguing that these exchanges indicate India under the BJP featured in Epstein’s wider global engagement.He said he had earlier flagged these issues in a series of tweets on what he described as the “disgraceful Epstein saga”.The Congress leader said the emails inevitably raise questions that the government must answer. He asked whether any meeting involving Modi, Jaitley and Epstein ever took place, and whether any outreach was attempted, including who initiated it and for what purpose.Khera also questioned the nature of any interaction, asking whether it was political, financial, diplomatic, military or personal in character.He further asked what it was about India’s newly formed government in 2014, and specifically about Modi and Jaitley, that triggered Epstein’s sudden interest in the country. Khera also sought clarity on the extent of interaction, if any, between individuals in the BJP or the broader power circuit and Epstein’s network.Khera said the issues raised by the emails go beyond political sparring and touch upon accountability at the highest levels of power.He maintained that silence from the government would only deepen public suspicion and called for clear answers to what he described as unavoidable questions surrounding the early years of the Modi government.
