The Daily Populous Tuesday February 25th, 2025 day edition
Authored by bbc.com and submitted by Mundane-Laugh8562

Trump's '$21m for voter turnout' claim triggers political row in India

4 days ago Cherylann Mollan BBC News, Mumbai

Getty Images Modi and Trump share a warm friendship

US President Donald Trump's remark that his country spent $21m to boost voter turnout in India's elections has triggered a political slugfest in the country. He made the remark days after a team led by Elon Musk said it had cancelled the payout as part of its crackdown on a US agency providing foreign aid. India's governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) called the payout an "external interference" and accused the opposition Congress party of seeking this intervention. The Congress denied the allegation, calling Trump's claims "nonsensical". The US has not provided any evidence to support its claim.

Getty Images Trump has created Doge, led by Musk, to slash federal spending and jobs

On Friday, India's foreign ministry said it found the claims "deeply troubling". Foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said it was "premature" to make public statements about the matter at this stage and that relevant authorities were investigating it. Trump vowed to boost the US economy and soon after returning to office, he created the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), led by Musk, to slash federal spending and jobs. Musk says Doge's mission is to save taxpayer money and cut national debt. One of its biggest moves - now making global headlines - is a crackdown on USAID, the US agency overseeing humanitarian aid since the 1960s. Musk, who has called USAID a "criminal organisation", announced on Sunday that funding for several projects had been cancelled. The cuts included $486m for the "Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening", with "$21m for voter turnout in India" and "$22m for inclusive and participatory political process in Moldova". Defending Doge's cuts, Trump said India "had a lot of money" and was among the world's highest-taxing nations. On Thursday, he doubled down, questioning the $21m spend on "India's voter turnout". The latest comments came a week after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first Washington visit under Trump's second term, where Trump announced expanded military sales, increased energy exports and plans for a trade deal and new defence framework. "I guess they were trying to get somebody else elected. We have got to tell the Indian government," the US president said at a summit in Miami. The same day, BJP leader Amit Malviya shared a clip of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi speaking at an event in London before the 2024 general election. In the clip, Gandhi can be heard saying that major democracies like the US and European countries were "oblivious that a huge chunk of democratic model has come undone [in India]". "Rahul Gandhi was in London, urging foreign powers - from the US to Europe - to intervene in India's internal affairs," Malviya alleged in his post on X. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh dismissed the claim and urged the government to report on USAID's decades-long support to governmental and non-governmental institutions during PM Modi's tenure.

Getty Images The BJP has accused Rahul Gandhi of maligning India abroad, which he and his Congress party have denied

Did USAID really donate $21m to India?

BrownRepresent on February 25th, 2025 at 07:23 UTC »

Unrelated but I visited the USAID website when it was still up to see their contributions towards India.

A number of them were gross exaggerations, so if that turns out to be true I wouldn't even be surprised

Nomustang on February 25th, 2025 at 07:01 UTC »

Hasn't it already been confirmed that the 21 million was for Bangladesh?

And using points brought up by another commenter:

If the election result could be changed by a mere 21 million dollars, a couple hundred would be enough to tear the country apart. That would be a security threat and it'd be the government's incompetence to not notice this given that EVERY country is involved in election interference to get a result favorable to them.

Mundane-Laugh8562 on February 25th, 2025 at 06:43 UTC »

SS: US President Donald Trump's remark that his country spent $21m to boost voter turnout in India's elections has triggered a political slugfest in the country.

He made the remark days after a team led by Elon Musk said it had cancelled the payout as part of its crackdown on a US agency providing foreign aid. India's governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) called the payout an "external interference" and accused the opposition Congress party of seeking this intervention. The Congress denied the allegation, calling Trump's claims "nonsensical". The US has not provided any evidence to support its claim.

The latest comments came a week after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first Washington visit under Trump's second term, where Trump announced expanded military sales, increased energy exports and plans for a trade deal and new defence framework.

"I guess they were trying to get somebody else elected. We have got to tell the Indian government," the US president said at a summit in Miami.