Trump's remark on funds for India kicks up political row

US PRESIDENT Donald Trump's remark that the Biden administration's decision to allocate $21 million to India for “voter turnout”, was to "get somebody else elected" has sparked a political storm in India.

The BJP sought to link Trump's comments with that of Rahul Gandhi's 2023 remarks apparently ruing lack of concerns abroad to protect democracy in the country, and claimed that the NGOs aligned to the Congress tried to influence elections in India.

Former Union minister and senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad played audio clips of Trump and Gandhi, who had made the comments in the UK in 2023, to slam the Congress.

Prasad said, "It is a matter of shame what the Congress has done. Rahul Gandhi has made a joke of Indian democracy abroad and sought help from democracies abroad. It means he sought support to help him win as the Congress keeps losing elections."

The Congress, however, has dismissed Trump's claim as "nonsensical" and demanded that the Indian government bring out a white paper on the US Agency for International Development's support to both governmental and non-governmental institutions in India over the decades.

In a post on X, Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh said, "USAID is very much in the news these days. It was set up on November 3, 1961. Claims being made by the US president are typically nonsensical to say the least."

"Even so, the Government of India should bring out a white paper at the earliest detailing USAID's support to both governmental and non-governmental institutions in India over the decades," the Congress leader said.

Veena Reddy in focus

Former India director for the USAID Veena Reddy also came into media spotlight after BJP MP Mahesh Jethmalani raised questions about her role in the funding.

“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 the 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," said Mahesh Jethmalani posted on X.

Funds meant for Bangladesh?

However, in a new twist to the controversy, Indian Express reports that $21 million was sanctioned in 2022 for Bangladesh, not India.

Of this, $13.4 million has already been disbursed for “political and civic engagement” among Bangladesh students in the run-up to the January 2024 elections.

The daily claims to have accessed the records and stated that the USAID grant was channelled via the Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening (CEPPS), a group based in Washington, DC, which specialises in “complex democracy, rights and governance programming.”

According to the official open data source of US federal spending, there is no USAID funded CEPPS project in India since 2008, the daily added.

"The only ongoing USAID grant to CEPPS matching the denomination of $21 million and the purpose of voting was sanctioned in July 2022 for USAID’s Amar Vote Amar (My Vote is Mine). This is a project in Bangladesh," the daily stated.