New Delhi, February 22 (Live Mint) – US President Donald Trump on Saturday once again questioned the USAID’s $21 million fund for ‘voter turnout’ in India, which his administration has cancelled.
“USD 21 million going to my friend Prime Minister Modi in India for voter turnout. We are giving $21 million for voter turnout in India, what about us? I want voter turnout too.” the US President said in a video.
Earlier, Trump has questioned the necessity of spending millions on voter turnout in a foreign country, adding, “I have a lot of respect for India. I have a lot of respect for the prime minister. He just left, as you know, two days ago. But we’re giving USD 21 million for voter turnout. It’s voter turnout in India. What about, like, voter turnout here? Oh, we’ve done that, I guess. We did USD 500 million, didn’t we? It’s called the lockboxes.”
He went on to mention the $29 million USAID fund allocated to Bangladesh for “strengthening the political landscape”.
“The $29 million in Bangladesh went to a firm that no one had ever heard of, with only two people working at that firm,” the US President stated.
India on Friday said the revelations about USAID funding for certain activities in the country are “deeply troubling” and have led to concerns about foreign interference in its internal affairs.
Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said relevant departments and authorities are looking into the information put out by the United States administration regarding certain US activities and funding.
“We have seen information that has been put out by the US administration regarding certain US activities and funding. These are obviously very deeply troubling,” Jaiswal said.
This has led to concerns about foreign interference in India’s internal affairs. Relevant departments and agencies are looking into this matter. It would be premature to make a public comment at this stage, so relevant authorities are looking into it and hopefully, we can come up with an update on that subsequently,” Jaiswal said.
India’s government is taking these revelations seriously, indicating potential diplomatic tensions ahead.
Meanwhile, Dr.Subramanian Swamy, a senior leader of the BJP and former Commerce Minister told the YouTube channel HW that he would write to Modi about this matter seeking details, and added that if he did not get a reply, he would file a Public Interest Litigation (PLI) in the Supreme Court.
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