As BJP flags Trump’s statement, Cong demands white paper on USAID funding

New Delhi: After US President Donald Trump expressed concern about a $21 million grant for voter turnout in India, claiming that the funds may have been used "to get somebody else elected," the Congress demanded a white paper by the Centre on USAID's financial support to governmental and non-governmental organisations in India on Thursday, dismissing Trump's comments as "typically nonsensical."

Meanwhile, the BJP claimed that Trump had confirmed an attempt to influence Indian elections from overseas and that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had urged foreign powers to engage in India's internal affairs.

“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 Govt 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,” Congress media department head Jairam Ramesh said, Indian Express reported.

Trump had earlier accused the previous US President Joe Biden's administration has trying to meddle with India’s elections.

This prompted the BJP to launch an attack on the Congress, with former Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad remarking at a press conference that, “when people don’t vote for them (the Congress), they resort to conspiracies, using foreign money to influence India’s elections”.

“They malign India’s democracy, and we strongly condemn this. This blatant attempt at foreign interference in India’s democratic process is a matter of great shame,” he added.

“Today, Donald Trump has publicly stated that it was clearly established he (Rahul Gandhi) used to cry for foreign help in Indian elections because he was not getting votes. The party that claims to follow Gandhi Ji’s ideology has stooped to such levels—it is truly shameful,” Prasad said, linking Rahul Gandhi’s statement in the UK before the Lok Sabha elections to Trump’s statement at Miami.

Amit Malviya, BJP IT cell convenor recalled that “in March 2023, ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election, Rahul Gandhi was in London, urging foreign powers—from the US to Europe—to intervene in India’s internal affairs”.

He added: “Now, US President Donald Trump has confirmed that there was indeed an attempt to influence the Indian election and install someone other than Prime Minister Modi.”

Trump, questioned the motive behind the funding at the FII PRIORITY Summit in Miami, and said, “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.”

This comes a day after Trump had, in a similar fashion, questioned the financial aid. “Twenty-one million for voter turnout in India — why are we giving them this money? India has a lot of money. They’re one of the highest-taxing countries in the world. It’s hard for us to get in there because their tariffs are so high,” Trump had remarked during a press conference.

He added: “I have a lot of respect for India, I have a lot of respect for the Prime Minister. He just left two days ago. But we’re giving 21 million dollars for voter turnout in India — what about voter turnout here? We’ve done that, I guess. We did 500 million dollars—it’s called the lock boxes.”

The move to revoke the funding comes after the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) announced on February 16 that it would cancel financial support previously given to the Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening (CEPPS) for voter turnout efforts in India. DOGE, led by tech billionaire Elon Musk, announced the cancellation in a post on X.

The government listed a list of suspended expenditures, including $486 million formerly intended for CEPPS. The breakdown included $22 million for developing "inclusive and participatory political processes" in Moldova and a now-revoked $21 million for enhancing voter turnout in India.