Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Wednesday questioned why industrialist Anil Ambani was not in jail, alleging that his name appeared in the Epstein-related files. The Congress MP alleged that there was pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding the India–US nuclear deal and that “no PM would do what has happened in terms of data, farmers, energy security, and defence”.
Participating in the debate on the Union Budget, he said, "You have sold India. Are you not ashamed of selling India? You have sold our mother, Bharat Mata," while referring to the trade agreement.
He said the interests of farmers have been compromised as agricultural products from the US will flood Indian markets.
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“I have said that I will authenticate the data I have. There are Department of Justice files on the Epstein case naming Hardeep Puri and Anil Ambani. In an ongoing case against Adani, summons have been issued. The Government of India has not responded for the last 18 months. There is direct pressure on the Prime Minister. The main thing is that no PM would do this in a normal situation. In a normal situation, no PM would do what has happened in terms of data, farmers, energy security, and defence. Someone would do this only when there is a certain grip on them," Gandhi told reporters.
The Leader of the Opposition also raised the issue during his speech in the House and asked why the industrialist, whose name was in the files released by the US Justice Department, was not in jail. On 31 January, the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal, strongly dismissed the references to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 2017 visit to Israel in an email purportedly part of the recently released Epstein files. The MEA spokesperson had dubbed the reference as the "trashy ruminations" of a convicted criminal.
"We have seen reports of an email message from the so-called Epstein files that has a reference to the Prime Minister and his visit to Israel. 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 was quoted as saying by ANI.