The political debate surrounding Prime Minister Narendra Modi's name being in the ‘Epstein Files’ after the release of documents by the US Justice Department has intensified as the Trinamool Congress launched a fresh attack on social media.
On Friday, the US Justice Department publicly released several documents related to America’s notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Among them, one document contains a reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Congress reacted to the development soon after, and now Trinamool, the ruling party in West Bengal, has also spoken out on the matter.
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Trinamool’s reaction and demand for clarification
A post was made from the Trinamool Congress X handle on Sunday morning, strongly condemning the Prime Minister’s name being linked in the ‘Epstein Files’. The party claimed that the association amounts to humiliation for the country on the global stage.
“For a Prime Minister who cloaks himself in the rhetoric of ‘zero tolerance,’ the very appearance of @narendramodi’s name in investigative records of the United States Department of Justice concerning convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is nothing short of a national humiliation,” the post read.
Trinamool has demanded a response from the Prime Minister on the issue. The party stated that in any democracy, serious allegations must be addressed with transparency and responsibility, and that remaining silent is not a solution. The post further claimed that if there is even the slightest truth to the allegations, the Prime Minister should come forward and allow himself to be scrutinised, asserting that the country’s honour and public trust should not be compromised for political convenience.
Document release and political response
The controversy began on Friday after documents released by the US Justice Department revealed an email sent by Jeffrey Epstein on July 9, 2017. In the email, addressed to a person named Jebor Y, Epstein wrote: “Indian Prime Minister Modi took advice and danced and sang in Israel for the benefit of the American President. They met a few weeks ago. It worked!”
Notably, Prime Minister Modi visited Israel in June 2017, marking the first visit to Israel by an Indian Prime Minister.
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Congress became vocal on the issue a day earlier, sharing the email on social media and claiming that Modi may have had contact with Epstein during his meeting with then US President Donald Trump in June 2017. Congress further alleged that the Prime Minister’s visit to Israel from July 4 to July 6 may have been planned based on the “advice” referred to in the email.
However, the Ministry of External Affairs has strongly rejected the allegations. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at a press conference that statements made in the personal email of a convicted criminal do not merit any importance and dismissed the claims as baseless.
