US President Donald Trump has raised questions about the funding of Rs 182 crore received to increase voting in India.
US President Trump said, “Why are we giving 182 crore rupees to India? They have a lot of money. They are among the highest taxing countries in the world. Their tariffs are also very high. I respect India and its Prime Minister a lot, but why give 20 crore dollars for voter turnout?”
Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Trump said,
Why are we giving India 21 million US dollars? They have a lot of money. India is one of the highest tariff-imposing countries in the world, especially for us.
Trump’s ally Elon Musk on Saturday canceled Rs 182 crore funding to India. The Department of Government Efficiency (DoGE) headed by Musk took this decision on Saturday.
DOGE has released a list. In this, the department has canceled funding for 15 types of programs. One of these programs is to strengthen the electoral process around the world, which has a funding of Rs 4200 crore. India’s share in this funding is Rs 182 crore.
DoGE posted – All spending on American taxpayer money canceled
BJP raises questions on election funding
BJP leader Amit Malviya has reacted to the DOGE decision. In this, he raised questions about the funding of Rs 182 crore in Indian elections.
He said in the post – $21 million (Rs 182 crore) to increase voter turnout? This is clearly external interference in the country’s electoral process. Who will benefit from this fund? Obviously, this will not benefit the ruling (BJP) party.
In another post, Amit Malviya accused the Congress Party and George Soros of interfering in Indian elections. Malviya called Soros a known associate of the Gandhi family.
Malviya wrote on X that in 2012, the Election Commission, under the leadership of SY Qureshi, signed an MoU with the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES). This organization is affiliated with George Soros’ Open Society Foundation. It receives financial support mainly from USAID.
BJP spokesperson’s post accuses former Election Commissioner, Congress and Soros
Qureshi said – there is no truth in the report at all
Qureshi said, “There is absolutely no truth in the media report that during my tenure as Election Commissioner in 2012, an American agency provided millions of dollars in funding to increase voter participation in India.”
SY Qureshi said that when he was the Chief Election Commissioner in 2012, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed with IFES. The Election Commission had entered into similar agreements with many other agencies and election management bodies.
This agreement was signed so that interested countries can be trained at the Election Commission’s training and resource center, namely the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM).
Qureshi said that the MoU clearly stated that neither party would have any financial or legal liability. This condition was placed in two separate places so that there was no room for any ambiguity. Any mention of money in this MoU is completely false.
Let us tell you that an MoU is an agreement between two or more parties. This memorandum outlines a joint agenda and notes the issues decided to work together.
Funding to Bangladesh has also been stopped.
The list released by DoGE also includes a fund of Rs. 251 crore to Bangladesh. This fund was being given to strengthen the political environment in Bangladesh.
This funding has been stopped at a time when there is suspicion that the US deep state is playing a role in overthrowing the Sheikh Hasina government in Bangladesh. When Trump was questioned about this during Modi’s visit to the US, he replied that the US had no role in the change of power in Bangladesh.
Our deep state had no role in this. This is something that the Indian Prime Minister has been working on for a long time. Work on this has been going on for many years. I am reading about it, but it would be better if PM Modi talks about the Bangladesh issue.
However, it is not clear what work Trump was referring to on behalf of India. This was followed by a meeting between PM Modi and Trump, in which both discussed the situation in Bangladesh.