In Short
- Trump reiterates USAID funding to India charge for fourth day in a row
- Says $29 million went to Bangladeshi firm nobody had ever heard of
- Comes amid slugfest between BJP and Congress over poll meddling
US President Donald Trump took Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s name for the first time while reiterating for the fourth consecutive day his charge of granting $21 million to India for “voter turnout” amid a raging political slugfest over the issue back home. In his latest salvo, Trump distinctly mentioned the separate USAID funding to India and Bangladesh, contradicting Indian Express’s report that claimed the grant was sanctioned for Dhaka, and not New Delhi.
The US President, who had earlier hinted that the funds might have been used to interfere in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections without giving any evidence, took the Prime Minister’s name in his latest remark.
“$21 million going to my friend Prime Minister Narendra Modi and India for voter turnout. We are giving $21 million for voter turnout in India. What about us? I want voter turnout too,” Trump said in cryptic remarks.
He followed up by mentioning the $29 million USAID fund granted to Bangladesh for “strengthening the political landscape”. “USD 29 million in Bangladesh went to a firm that nobody had ever heard of. Only two people were working in that firm,” the US President said.
Posting the video on X, BJP IT Cell chief Amit Malviya took a swipe at the report and the opposition, which cited it to attack the BJP.
“For the third day in a row, US President Donald Trump reiterated his claim about USAID funding efforts to promote voter turnout in India… But what does he know about his own country’s spending? The Indian Express and the deranged Left think they know better!” Malviya tweeted.
On Friday, Indian Express published an investigative report that claimed India had received no funding from USAID for any election-related project since 2008. The report mentioned that the only USAID grant worth $21 million for voter participation was sanctioned for a project in Bangladesh in 2022.
WHAT TRUMP SAID ON INDIA FUNDING
The US President has been raking up the issue time and again after the Elon Musk-led DOGE cancelled the $21 million payout to India and similar grants to other nations earlier this month.
On February 19, Trump questioned the purpose of providing $21 million to India, saying the US “can hardly get in there” because of high tariffs.
The next day, Trump stirred a hornet’s nest after he questioned the previous Joe Biden administration’s move to give the grant to India and indicated that it might have been used to meddle in elections.
“USD 21 million for voter turnout in India. Why do we need to spend USD 21 million for voter turnout in India? I guess they (the Biden administration) were trying to get somebody else elected. We have got to tell the Indian government… This is a total breakthrough,” he said.
On Friday, he repeated the charge again at a Republican governors’ conference, this time calling the funding a “kickback scheme”. “$21 million for voter turnout in India. Why are we caring about India turnout? We got enough problems… it’s a kickback scheme, you know,” Trump stressed.
The government, breaking its silence on the issue four days since Trump’s claim, called the allegations “very deeply troubling”. The Ministry of External Affairs expressed concerns about foreign interference in India’s internal affairs.
“There are many departments and agencies in India that work with USAID. All these ministries and agencies are looking at this now,” the MEA spokesperson said at a media briefing on Friday.
BJP VS CONGRESS SLUGFEST
The issue has triggered a storm in the political corridors, with the BJP and the Congress accusing each other of using “external influence” in the election process.
The BJP has targeted Rahul Gandhi, citing his remarks at an event in London in 2023 to accuse him of colluding with foreign forces to weaken India. BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia claimed that the lion’s share of the USAID fund came into India during the Congress-led UPA regime.
“While funding for the government (in India) stopped, there was an increase in funding for the NGOs during Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra to strengthen Rahul Gandhi ahead of the polls in an attempt to defeat Narendra Modi,” Bhatia said at a media briefing.
Holding a parallel press meeting, Congress’s Pawan Khera alleged that the BJP had been in the opposition for the longest period and took “direct help from external forces” to destablise UPA governments.
The party has called Trump’s remarks “nonsensical” while demanding that the Modi government release a White Paper detailing USAID’s support to government institutions and NGOs in India.
