India dismisses reference to PM Modi in newly released Epstein files as baseless
New Delhi: India on Saturday firmly rejected any suggestion of impropriety after the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi appeared in a reference contained in newly released files of the United States Department of Justice linked to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Responding to media queries, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the reference was being misrepresented and should not be taken seriously.
“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,” Jaiswal said. “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.”
Prime Minister Modi’s July 2017 visit to Israel was a historic one, as it marked the first time an Indian Prime Minister travelled to the country since India and Israel established full diplomatic relations in 1992.
The clarification from the Indian government came hours after the US Justice Department released a fresh and extensive set of records from its investigative files related to Epstein. The disclosures are part of an ongoing process under US law aimed at revealing what authorities knew about Epstein’s crimes and his contacts with wealthy and influential individuals.
US Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the latest release includes more than three million pages of documents, along with over 2,000 videos and nearly 1.8 lakh images. The material has been published on the department’s website and includes records that officials said were not part of an earlier release made in December.
The disclosures are mandated under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which was enacted following sustained political and public pressure in the United States. The law requires the government to make public its files not only on Epstein but also on his longtime associate and former partner Ghislaine Maxwell.
Epstein died in a New York jail cell in August 2019, about a month after he was indicted on federal sex trafficking charges. His death was officially ruled a suicide.
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Kerala minister slams ‘The Kerala Story’ sequel teaser as ‘propaganda’
Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) (PTI): Kerala Minister Saji Cherian on Saturday criticised the teaser of the second part of the film 'The Kerala Story', alleging that it was aimed at "communal polarisation and undermining the state’s secular fabric."
In a Facebook post, Cherian said that from the very first impression, the film appeared to be yet another product of "the Sangh Parivar’s factory that manufactures lies without any connection to facts."
He alleged that the makers were attempting to portray Kerala, a model of secularism, as a "breeding ground for religious extremism in order to humiliate the state before the world."
"The repeated propagation of fake allegations such as ‘love jihad’ and hate-filled dialogues is a deliberate attempt to disrupt Kerala’s atmosphere of peace and harmony," the state culture minister said.
'Love jihad' is a term often used by right-wing outfits to allege a ploy by Muslim men to lure Hindu women into religious conversion through marriage.
Cherian said freedom of expression was not a "licence to polarise the country or create divisions among people."
"Presenting as truth claims that have already been rejected by investigative agencies and courts is aimed solely at political gain," he said.
The minister asserted that Kerala would collectively resist such efforts.
"Kerala will stand united against attempts to reap political benefits by sowing the poisonous seeds of communal hatred," Cherian added.
Last week, the opposition had criticised Cherian over an alleged communal remark, pointing to the names of winners in the Kasaragod municipality and the Malappuram district panchayat following the local body elections.
The minister later apologised to the public for the comment, saying his words had been "distorted to make it appear as though they were directed at any group or community."
The teaser of 'Kerala Story 2: Goes Beyond', directed by Kamakhya Narayan Singh, was released on Friday.
