Former U.S. President Donald Trump has again expressed concerns regarding the Biden administration's move to provide $21 million to India for "voter turnout." Questioning the motive behind the action, Trump wondered if the funding was to sway election results, inquiring if they were "trying to get somebody else elected.
"Why do we need to spend $21 million on voter turnout in India? I guess they were trying to get somebody else elected. We have got to tell the Indian Government... This is a total breakthrough," he said at a summit in Miami on Thursday.
Trump's statement followed closely after the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is led by billionaire Elon Musk, disclosed that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has spent $21 million to improve "voter turnout" in India.
The DOGE, a Trump-created cost-cutting agency, issued a Feb. 16 report outlining different amounts of U.S. taxpayer money planned to be spent, including the $21 million going to India. The agency did, however, confirm the reported expenditures had been canceled.
Among the other international funding projects proposed, the DOGE underscored a $29 million fund for "strengthening the political environment in Bangladesh"—a nation that has just gone through political instability over claims of U.S. interference in the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Furthermore, $39 million was allocated for "fiscal federalism" and "conservation of biodiversity" in Nepal.
"Over the past month, we have effectively eliminated the USAID, which was funding much of this lunacy," Trump told the gathering in Miami.
"In less than a single month, DOGE has already saved over $55 billion - and we're just getting started... We will rapidly grow our economy by dramatically shrinking the federal government," he added.
Earlier Wednesday, Trump defended the DOGE's move and questioned why US taxpayers' money was used for voter turnout in India.
"Why are we giving $21 million to India? They got a lot more money. They are one of the highest taxing countries in the world in terms of us; we can hardly get in there because their tariffs are so high. I have a lot of respect for India and their Prime Minister, but giving $21 million for voter turnout? In India? What about voter turnout here?" he said at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.
BJP On USAID's 'India Voter Turnout'
After the DOGE exposed USAID's $21 million for voter mobilization in India, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) attacked the opposition Congress party, accusing the money of being "external interference in India's electoral process." The BJP raised an eyebrow at the reason behind the grant and claimed that foreign intervention in India's elections was not acceptable.
"Who gains from this? Not the ruling party (the BJP) for sure!" party leader Amit Malviya said.
BJP politician Amit Malviya went further in associating the USAID programme with what he called the "systematic infiltration" of Indian institutions by extraneous parties.
He also targeted Hungarian-American U.S. financier George Soros, long accused by right-wing political leaders across the world of trying to interfere in local politics through his Open Society Foundations. Malviya hinted that such outside interference threatened the sovereignty of India and its democratic processes.
"Once again, it is George Soros, a known associate of the Congress party and the Gandhis, whose shadow looms over our electoral process," Mr Malviya claimed.
Amit Malviya has also questioned the suspicious Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that was entered into in 2012 by the Election Commission of India (ECI) with The International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), which is an institution affiliated with George Soros's Open Society Foundations.
Malviya implied that this pact signified deeper foreign intervention in India's election processes and demanded closer scrutiny of such alignments. His statement further emphasized the BJP's larger apprehensions regarding outside interference in India's democratic structures.
