NEW DELHI: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday asked the purpose behind providing $21 million to India for “voter turnout” and said that the country “one of the highest taxing countries in the world”. This came after Elon Musk-led DOGE’s (Department of Government Efficiency) disclosed that USAID contributed $21 million to EC allegedly for boosting voter turnout.
“Why are we giving $21 million to India? They have 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,” he asked while signing executive orders at Mar-a-Lago.
Categorically mentioning that he had “a lot of respect” for PM Narendra Modi, Trump said questioned the funding. “I have a lot of respect for India and their prime minister, but giving $21 million for voter turnout?” he said. The two leaders recently held bilateral talks where they discussed trade, illegal immigration, defence and energy, among other key sectors.
The Musk-led department had last week shared a list of areas from where it had decided to revoke the US aid. One of those included — “$21M for voter turnout in India” — prompting political slugfest between the BJP and the Congress in the country.
BJP, Congress demand probe into ‘external interference’ in polls
The BJP has renewed its call for an investigation into the matter. Meanwhile, former CEC SY Quraishi clarified that while the Election Commission had an understanding with USAID, no financial assistance was involved.
“So, DOGE has discovered that USAID allocated $21 million for ‘voter turnout’ in India, a euphemism for paying voters to cast their votes to effect regime change. Veena Reddy was sent to India in 2021 (ominous?) as head of USAID’s Indian mission. Post Lok Sabha elections 2024 (presumably her voter turnout mission done), she returned to US. Pity because investigating agencies here could have asked her some questions about who this money was given to for applying it to voter turnout operations,” BJP MP Mahesh Jethmalani said.
The Congress party has also condemned foreign interference in India’s electoral process, urging the Modi government to probe USAID’s claims and take action if any wrongdoing is uncovered.