'Misrepresentation': BJP rejects claim that USAID's $21 million funding went to Bangladesh, not India

US announced last week that it has decided to slash a $21 million program designed to increase voter turnout in India. (AP)

Standing firm on its allegations of the Congress-led UPA government facilitating foreign interference in India's electoral process, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday dismissed a news report claiming that the "$21-million funding for voter turnout in India" actually went to Bangladesh.

BJP leader Amit Malviya said that the article, published in The Indian Express Friday, "misrepresents the reference to a $21 million funding tranche intended to ‘promote’ voter turnout in India" and "sidesteps the 2012 Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Election Commission of India—under the leadership of (then CEC) SY Quraishi—and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), an organization linked to George Soros’s Open Society Foundation, which is primarily funded by USAID".

FAKE NEWS ALERT
The Indian Express story discusses $21 million in funding to Bangladesh in 2022. However, the article misrepresents the reference to a $21 million funding tranche intended to promote voter turnout in India.What Indian Express conveniently sidesteps is pic.twitter.com/niOaWXivm5 Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) February 21, 2025

On February 16, US President Donald Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) announced that it had “cancelled,” among a string of projects, USAID funding of “$21 million for voter turnout in India".

"Why do we need to spend $21m for voter turnout in India? Wow, $21m! I guess they were trying to get somebody else elected," Trump said in Miami on Wednesday.

The report by The Indian Express claimed that the $21 million funding tranche was sanctioned in 2022 for Bangladesh, not India.

Dismissing the claim made in the report, the BJP said it was "silent on subsequent funding, beginning in 2014, under various categories aimed at interfering in India’s election process", adding that the details of this funding were once available through annual filings on the now-defunct website of the Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening (CEPPS), a subset of IFES, which collaborates with USAID, the U.S. State Department, George Soros’s Open Society Foundation, and others".

"It is becoming increasingly clear that the Congress-led UPA systematically enabled the infiltration of India’s institutions by forces working against the nation’s interests—those who seek to weaken India at every opportunity," Malviya said.

"It is also evident that a section of India’s so-called “civil society” is rattled, fearing that more details will emerge, exposing many of the usual suspects who benefited from foreign funding. Their fear is real. The radical Left will strike back with the desperation of a snake writhing in the sand. Expect more attempts to discredit and deflect from these revelations—just like this one," he added.

The remarks came as the Congress, quick to latch on to the report, claimed that it was "anti-national" of the BJP start pointing fingers at the opposition parties without first verifying facts. "Isn’t it anti-national of the BJP to immediately start pointing fingers at the opposition parties without first verifying facts and also without realising that the BJP has been in the opposition for the longest period and has from time to time taken direct and unethical help from external forces to unsettle the government?" said Congress leader Pawan Khera.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh mirrored the argument and said that the "lies first mouthed in Washington" were amplified by BJP's "jhooth sena".

Lies first mouthed in Washington. Lies then amplified by BJP's Jhoot Sena.Lies made to be debated on Godi media.Lies now thoroughly exposed. Will the Liars apologise? pic.twitter.com/nY7iP4jmnN Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) February 21, 2025

Meanwhile, the US President continued his tirade against USAID's funding to India for "voter turnout", terming it a "kickback scheme".

“$21 million for voter turnout in India. Why are we focusing on India’s turnout? We’ve got enough issues here… it’s a kickback scheme, you know," Trump said at a Republican Governors’ conference.

“In many cases, many of these cases actually, you have no idea what we’re talking about. That means there’s a kickback because nobody has any idea what’s going on," Trump added.

Sharing a clip of Trump’s remark, BJP leader Malviya said, "A day after US President Donald Trump spoke about $21 million being sent to India for voter turnout, he has reiterated the charge. And no, he is not confusing it with the $29 million funnelled into Bangladesh. This time, he has also mentioned kickbacks. Essentially, this money is also used to sustain deep-state assets that work to defend and deflect such revelations. We are now witnessing the same pattern unfold in India."