New Delhi: Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi triggered a fierce showdown between the Opposition and the treasury benches in the Lok Sabha Thursday after linking US claims about India’s purchase of Russian oil to Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri’s mention in the infamous Epstein files.
Rahul was prevented from completing his intervention by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, who returned to the Chair Thursday, a day after the Opposition-sponsored resolution seeking his removal on charges of bias was defeated by voice vote.
Birla said he would not allow Rahul to proceed as he was straying from the topic—the ongoing war in West Asia and the resulting energy crisis—on which he was expected to speak. Opposition members protested Birla’s decision.
In his brief remarks, before being interrupted, Rahul said the war between US-Israel and Iran would have “far-reaching consequences”.
“The central artery through which 20 percent of global oil flows, the Strait of Hormuz, has been closed. This is going to have tremendous repercussions, particularly for us, because a very large portion of our oil and natural gas comes through the Strait of Hormuz,” the Congress leader said.
He said the energy crisis triggered by the war had only begun to play out and that people could face greater difficulties in the days ahead. “The pain has just started. Restaurants are closing, there is widespread panic about LPG, street vendors are affected and as I said, this is only the beginning.”
Rahul then referred to statements made by US President Donald Trump and senior officials in his administration claiming that India had agreed to stop purchasing crude oil from Russia as part of ongoing trade negotiations between Washington and New Delhi.
“The foundation of every single nation is its energy security. Allowing the United States to decide who we buy oil from, whether we can buy oil from Russia or not, and whether our relationships with different suppliers can be decided by us—this is what has been bartered. It is puzzling why a nation the size of India would allow another nation, or the President of another nation, to decide whether we can buy Russian oil and determine who our partners are,” the LoP said.
While the Trump administration has claimed that India agreed to halt purchases of Russian crude, New Delhi maintains it has made no such commitment and that its energy procurement decisions remain guided by price, availability and national interest.
Last week, Washington said it had “allowed” India a 30-day waiver for purchase of Russian oil stranded at sea. New Delhi has not commented on the same either.
Rahul alleged that India’s purported pledge to stop buying Russian oil was part of a “compromise”.
“We have a gentleman sitting here who is the oil minister. He himself has said that he is a friend of Mr. Epstein…,” he claimed before his microphone was cut off and protests erupted in the House.
After his name surfaced in the Epstein files last month, sparking a political controversy, Puri had said he met Epstein “three or four times” over eight years as part of an official delegation linked to the International Peace Institute (IPI), and that their interactions “had nothing to do with” the sex-trafficking charges against Epstein.
Epstein died by suicide in August 2019 while in jail, a month after being indicted. He had earlier been convicted in 2008 in a Florida case involving solicitation of a minor.
The files consist of publicly released court and investigative records related to probes and lawsuits surrounding Epstein’s alleged sex-trafficking network and his associates. These documents were released by the United States Department of Justice under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Inclusion of names in the records does not, by itself, imply wrongdoing or criminal association.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
Also Read: Amit Shah targets Rahul’s attendance, hug & wink as Oppn motion to remove Om Birla as Speaker fails