'Elements of buffoonery': Hardeep Singh Puri hits back at Rahul Gandhi over Epstein files

Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Wednesday rejected Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s allegations linking him to the so-called ‘Epstein files’, dismissing the remarks as “elements of buffoonery”.

Addressing reporters at the BJP headquarters, Puri said Gandhi’s statements had “entertainment value”, contrasting them with leaders who “dedicate their lives to transforming the country”.

Responding to the allegations, Puri said the facts were already in the public domain. He said he served as India’s ambassador to the United Nations in New York for eight years before becoming a Union minister in 2017, and that references pointed to “three or four meetings” over that period.


Puri said he had informed Gandhi that after his retirement, he was invited to join the International Peace Institute (IPI), though he was not formally part of the organisation. He clarified that he served as secretary-general of the Independent Commission on Multilateralism, a project set up within the IPI.

He added that IPI chief Terje Rød-Larsen was the person who knew Jeffrey Epstein, and that he met Epstein only as part of IPI or ICM delegations on “three or four occasions at most”.