US President Donald Trump’s remarks that his country spent $21 million to boost voter turnout in Indian elections sparked a political slugfest.
He came just days after an Elon Musk-led team said it had cancelled payments as part of crackdowns on US agencies providing foreign aid.
India’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) called the payment “outside interference” and accused the opposition Congress party of seeking the intervention.
Congress denied the allegations and called Trump’s claims “meaningless.” The United States does not provide evidence to support its claim.
On Friday, India’s Foreign Ministry said it had determined the claim was “deeply troublesome.”
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Randil Jaiswal said it was “premature” to issue a public statement on the issue at this stage and that the relevant authorities are investigating it.
Trump vowed to boost the US economy and soon after taking office he created Musk-led Government Efficiency (DOGE) to cut federal spending and work. Musk says Doge’s mission is to save taxpayers money and reduce national debt.
It has been cracking down on the US agency USAID since the 1960s. Musk, who called USAID a “crime organisation,” announced on Sunday that funds for several projects had been cancelled.
The cuts include $486 million in the “consortium of strengthening elections and political processes,” with “$21 million voter turnout in India,” and “Comprehensive and participatory politics in Moldova The process included $22 million.
In defending the Doge cuts, Trump said India had “had lots of money” and was one of the highest tax countries in the world.
On Thursday, he doubled and questioned $21 million spending on “Indian voters.”
The latest comments come a week after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first visit to Washington under the second term of Trump’s second term, Trump plans to expand military sales, expand energy exports and trade contracts and announced a new defence framework.
“I think they were trying to elect someone else. We have to tell the Indian government,” the US president said at a Miami summit.
On the same day, BJP leader Amit Malviya shared a clip of Parliament 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 “we forgot that a huge portion of the democratic model has been reverted.”
“Rahul Gandhi was in London and encouraged foreign powers from the US to Europe. To intervene in India’s internal affairs,” Malviya insisted in X’s post.
Congress leader Jaylam Ramesh rejected the request and urged the government to report on USAID’s decades of support for government and non-governmental agencies during Modi’s tenure.
Despite extensive reports, neither Doge nor Trump provide evidence that USAID has given India $21 million to voter turnout.
Although the Indian poll panel has not responded, former election president Sy Qureshi refused to receive such funds during his tenure between 2010 and 2012.
Previously, Malviya signed an agreement in 2012 under Qureshi, with the panel linked to the George Soros Foundation (funded primarily by USAID) to support voter turnout campaigns He claimed that he did.
Qureshi dismissed the allegation as “malicious” and said the agreement explicitly imposed “there is no financial or legal obligation on either side.”
On Friday, the Indian Express newspaper said in its investigation report that $220 million was approved in Bangladesh, not India.
The company was intended to run for three years until July 2025, with $13.4 million already being spent, according to records accessed by the newspaper.
