Pressmediaofindia
Related Articles
24-02-2025
Bureau Report + Agencies
NEW DELHI: Indian authorities are looking into “deeply troubling” information about US governmental activity in the country, New Delhi said on Friday, after President Donald Trump suggested that a US government agency had spent money trying to influence Indian elections.
The Indian foreign ministry comment comes two days after Trump cited information released by DOGE, the department led by Elon Musk, showing that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) had spent $21 million on “voter turnout” in India.
“We have seen information put out by the US administration regarding certain USAID activities and funding. These are obviously very deeply troubling. This has led to concerns about foreign interference in India’s internal affairs,” foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told a weekly news briefing when asked about USAID’s activities in India.
Jaiswal said the “relevant department and agencies” were looking into the matter.
USAID did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
On February 16, DOGE published on X a list of funds that USAID, which Trump has put a freeze on, had disbursed, including $21 million for voter turnout in India.
“What do we need to spend $21 million for voter turnout in India for? Wow, $21 million. I guess they were trying to get somebody else elected,” Trump said at an event in Miami.
His comment and DOGE’s disclosures have caused a political storm in India, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party and the opposition Congress accusing each other of benefiting from foreign funds. On Friday, the Indian Express newspaper reported, opens new tab citing documents it had accessed, that the $21 million Trump referred to was disbursed to neighboring Bangladesh, not India.
Earlier the Union government on Friday said it was investigating “very deeply troubling” allegations made by the US government that the USAID planned to spend $21 million on funding “voter turnout” in India.
This planned expenditure has been cancelled by the US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) run by technocrat billionaire Elon Musk, in a decision shared in a post on Monday along with the details of cancelled USAID funding for several other countries as well.
In the Indian government’s first reaction to the DOGE post, the Ministry of External Affairs said that different departments are “looking into” the information shared but declined to comment on whether India would cancel a number of MoUs and agreements on USAID funding made with various Ministries over the past few years, many of which are still current.
The MEA also would not comment on a report by the Indian Express that suggested the information shared by DOGE was false, as the USAID funding had been sent to Bangladesh, not India.
“We have seen information that has been put out by the US administration regarding certain USAID activities and funding,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said. “These are obviously very deeply troubling. This has led to concerns about foreign interference in India’s internal affairs,” he added, referring to statements made by both the ruling BJP and Opposition Congress, blaming each other for engaging with USAID, which was set up in 1961. In its post, the DOGE said that “US taxpayer dollars were going to be spent on the following items, all of which have been cancelled,” including “$486M to the ‘Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening’ including $22M for ‘inclusive and participatory political process’ in Moldova and $21M for voter turnout in India”.
