NEW DELHI: The issue of USAID giving a grant of $21 million to boost voter turnout in India promised to snowball into major row, with US President Donald Trump saying the money was meant to influence elections and “get someone else” elected, and declaring he would share details of the funding with Modi govt. “… $21 million dollars for voter turnout in India? Why do we need to spend $21 million for voter turnout in India. Wow, $21 million, I guess they were trying to get someone else elected,” said Trump while speaking at the FII Priority Summit in Miami, Florida.
The campaign for the 2024 LS elections had seen PM Modi referring to what he called a foreign-funded plot to stop him from securing his third term. The claim by the Elon Musk-led DOGE about USAID releasing $21 million has, obviously, breathed fresh life into the charge.
BJP that has consistently alleged Congress’s foreign links, focusing on hedge fund operator George Soros’s dislike for PM Modi as well as “deep state’s” campaign against him, raised the “foreign hand” theory in a big way when an investigation portal released documents to show that Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, which had reports on alleged use of Pegasus spyware for surveillance, also received funds from USAID.
“President Trump’s latest remarks on USAID funding to India vindicated PM Modi’s claim during 2024 poll campaign that foreign powers were trying to prevent him from coming to office. When people don’t vote for them (Congress), they hatch conspiracies, use foreign money to influence India’s elections. They defame India’s democracy, and we strongly condemn it,” said senior BJP’s Ravi Shankar Prasad at a press conference.
Prasad said Rahul Gandhi has repeatedly called for foreign interference in India’s democratic processes. President Trump’s confirmation of such funding has validated the assistance Rahul Gandhi was receiving, he said. Prasad condemned Congress’s actions as utterly shameful and anti-national.
“Donald Trump’s public statement clearly established that they used to cry for foreign help in Indian elections because he was not getting votes,” Prasad said and added, “Rahul Gandhi has questioned why other democracies were not concerned about so-called attacks on democracy in India. He was conspiring to weaken India’s democracy on foreign soil.”