Mystery Over The Use Of USAID Funds In India Is Deepening

By Sushil Kutty

Why did the $21 million USAID largesse fail to bring about the desired regime-change in India, replace Prime Minister Narendra Modi and seat in his place a more acceptable face? This should be US President Donald Trump’s query because the dollars belonged to Americans and President Trump and DOGE’s presumptuous head Elon Musk have to trace and return to the American people their hard-earned dollars.

In fact, President Trump and Musk have floated the idea that $5000 will be given to each American from the DOGE-recovered money. Does that sound like Modi promising Rs 15 lakh from black money unearthed by the Modi government to every Indian alive?

Modi’s promise fell by the wayside and 10 years on there still isn’t any sign of the Rs 15 lakh to each Indian. Come to think of it, there have been two more Modi inaugurations since the promise was made.

Can President Trump be trusted? Perhaps, yes. Now, there’s this whole thing about $21 million to “get somebody else elected” and Trump wants Modi to take note. And all of a sudden there are all sorts of people worried about unknown people targeting Prime Minister Modi.

These folks can’t believe that there are people out there who have no time to spare for Prime Minister Modi’s safety, but have plenty of dollars and time in hand to plan harm to the Prime Minister.

And, but for the lovable President Trump, the nefarious scheme would have even succeeded. Elon Musk, who nobody can buy, and President Trump laid bare the plot to unseat Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Foul people with fouler plans and alleged tin-pot conspiracies of wannabe tin-pot dictators. President Trump has only just begun to dismantle the “American deep state”, some of the roots of which can be traced to an Indian version of America’s deep-state.

Has President Trump, by revealing the $21 million grant, set aside for boosting voter turnout in India, set the cat among the pigeons? “Why do we need to spend $21 million on voter turnout in India? I guess the Biden administration was trying to get somebody else elected. We have got to tell the Indian government. This is a total breakthrough,” Trump said.

So Prime Minister Modi went to the White House and heard straight from the horse’s mouth of the “$21 million plot.” In another world, Trump would be called a “snitch” but Trump’s first loyalty is to the Musk-led DOGE, which decided to cancel the $21-million fund for “voter turnout” in India.

The $21million is part of the $723 million in foreign aid funding that DOGE intends to cut. President Trump says Musk is not a White House employee and that anybody is free to call Musk “anybody.”

“Why are we giving $21 million to India? They have a lot more money,” President Trump quipped. And Modi’s ‘Godi Media’ couldn’t believe anybody would want to “Out” Prime Minister Modi of all the people.

One media outlet wrote: “India spends more on elections than the United States and also sees better voter turnout”, so what’s the big deal? India spent Rs 1.35 lakh crore in the 2024 general election, which turns out to be $16.2 billion. The US spend in the 2024 US Presidential election was $15.9 billion, including for the congressional contests.

Isn’t there a difference between voter turnout and voter awareness, and voter participation? Doesn’t the Election Commission of India have a budget to conduct elections? Doesn’t it have money for training poll officials, for mobilising poll officials and for paying security personnel? Doesn’t voter awareness lead to an increase in voter turnout?

Also, doesn’t payment for voter turnout constitute corruption; resorting to unfair means to win elections? Political parties also mount campaigns to woo votes and voters. The whole purpose of holding elections is to get voters to the voting booth. The 2024 Lok Sabha elections saw a voter turnout of 65.79%. The United States of America saw far less voter turnout.

The ‘Godi Media’ is asking who “got the money”, and via which channel? No need for shortcuts. There’s only one channel on everybody’s lips: the USAID, which was set up in 1961 and is said to be behind 70% of the total US external funding. The question being asked is why this love and largesse for Indian recipients? Some of the alleged media beneficiaries are said to be wallowing in USAID greenbacks.

But the answers are only forthcoming from the United States, there is no Indian input. Indian investigators can’t talk or won’t talk. What’s NSA Ajit Doval doing? The Modi government cannot handle conundrums and jigsaws. The Modi dispensation including its armada of spokespersons haven’t a clue of who is conspiring and what’s cooking.

The big question remains: how were the USAID dollars channelled to accounts in India. With President Trump and ‘presidential advisor’ Elon Musk going all out with DOGE, the USAID website is kaput! It is not showing any “programme running in India”, while there are ongoing engagements with Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

The media alludes to corruption on a large-scale but, as like in all things it is engaged with, the Government of India appears unconcerned. One former Chief Election Commissioner was beyond disbelief, rejecting all allegations that the Election Commission ever had monetary dealings with USAID, including to boost voter turnout.

But the question remains, to whom did the money go? “Would love to find out who received the $21mn spent to improve ‘voter turnout in India’… USAID is the biggest scam in human history,” writer-economist and member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council Sanjeev Sanyal posted on ‘X’.

Sanyal should ask his ‘Boss’ and stop acting like he is both deaf and dumb. The answer has to come from the Modi government. President Donald Trump should insist and refuse to let go! Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “best friend” owes it to the American people if not to the people of India. (IPA Service)