The Elon Musk Elon Musk technology magnate managed the government’s efficiency department (DOGE) which attacked the American Agency for International Development (USAID), accusing it of waste and fraud. DOGE’s announcement on February 16 canceling certain specific USAID plans for funding abroad, including ostensibly $ 21 million for “electoral participation in India”, has sparked political controversy in India.
In a few hours, Sanjeev Sanyal, member of the Economic Advisory Council of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, shared the position and wrote that he would like to discover “who received” the $ 21 million spent to improve “the participation rate in India “, As well as the $ 29 million for” strengthening [the] Political landscape in Bangladesh “and $ 29 million to improve” budgetary federalism “in Nepal.
“USAID is the largest scam in human history,” wrote Sanyal.
Even if Doge’s tweet spoke of money “was going to be spent”, a political slugfest about former beneficiaries broke out in India.
“21 million dollars for the participation rate?” It is certainly an external interference in the electoral process of India. Who wins? Not the ruling party for sure! “Said Amit Malviya, one of the eminent spokesperson for the Bharatiya Janata of Modi (BJP). In another tweet, Malviya allegedly alleged that the Hungarian-American philanthrope of the philanthropic George Soros is looming on our electoral process. “”
Describing Soros as “a known partner of the Congress and Ghent Party”, Malviya stressed that in 2012, the India electoral commission led by Syi Quraii signed a memorandum of understanding with the International Foundation of Electoral Systems ( IFes). Malviya said the IFES is “linked to the George Soros’s Open Society Foundation, which is mainly funded by USAID”.
The Congress, which is now the main opposition party, destroyed the accusations and alleged that the funds were really used to destabilize the government of the Progressive-II alliance led by the Congress, whose defeat during the general elections of 2014 saw the BJP led by Modi Power.
Responding to the accusation of Malviya, Pawan Khera, who directs the Department of Media and Advertising of the Congress, wrote in an article on social networks: “Someone says to this clown in 2012, when the ECI would have obtained this funding from the USAID, the ruling party was the congress. ” Khera said that Malviya’s argument that such expenses are supposed to benefit the opposition leads to the conclusion that the BJP must have obtained funding from the USAID in 2012-14.
Meanwhile, Quraii, the former head of the electoral commission, rejected the accusations, saying that they did not have “an Iota in fact”. He said that the memorandum of understanding did not involve any funding, not even a promise of financing. The memorandum of understanding, in reality, “clearly indicated in black and white that there would be no financial and legal obligation of any kind on each side,” he wrote on X.
President Donald Trump was paved in controversy to feed the fire. “Why should we spend $ 21 million on the participation rate in India?” I guess they were trying to do someone else. Here, “they” refers to the Joe Biden administration that Trump has succeeded. “We have to say it to the Indian government,” said Trump.
While the majority of traditional media and social media influencers of India jumped on the allegation of Trump, on February 21, the Indian Express published an investigation report, showing that the department of Trump and Musk Of $ 21 million spoke was intended for Bangladesh and sanctioned in 2022. From this subject, $ 13.4 million have already been disbursed, ostensibly for “political commitment and Civic »among Bangladais students approaching the rise in January 2024 elections.
The Indian Express report has declared that India has not received any funds linked to the elections or the participation rate since 2008.
There is a reason why the controversy made snowball so quickly despite a lack of details on nature, the calendar and the extent of the disbursement in the first place – the Trump war is against the common enemy of the Hindu nationalists from India.
It all started on February 2, after Trump said that USAID was “led by a heap of radical crazy”. His administration was “to bring them out”, then they “make a decision”, ostensibly on the future of the USAID “. A few hours later, Musk said he “reviewed” Trump in detail and that Trump agreed that the agency should be closed. The billionaire called the USAID “incredibly politically partisan” and said that he supported “causes radically left in the world, including anti-American things”.
In India, the BJP, which shares Trump and the enthusiasm of its coterie to denigrate the left, “the deep state” and George Soros, found in these developments a reason to celebrate. The Hindu nationalists of India include the BJP, its ideological-organization-organizational parent Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and dozens of other affiliated organizations.
Less than 24 hours after Musk’s announcement on February 3, Malviya wrote in an article on social networks on X: “The deafening silence of the left the left in India after the repression of the Usaid in the United States is revealing. Several of these characters, who have long experienced these documents, may have to sell their combinations with thin stripes just to buy grocery products. »»
The Hindu nationalists have been in arms against Soros, especially since its January 2020 remarks qualifying the movements of the government of Modi concerning citizenship and cashmere as the “most scary reverse” to the survival of companies open in the world. Since then, Hindu nationalists have seen a soros hand in many places – archaeological excavation projects in the south of India for the financing of NGOs.
Since coming to power in 2014, the Modi government has repressed NGOs that have received foreign funds, in particular those working on human rights and environmental protection.
On February 13, the English spokesperson for the RSS, the organizer, published an article alleging that “the left ecosystem, long accused of having orchestrated ideological subversion”, “operated on several occasions” of the canals of International financing like the USAID -humanitariangars. »»
“Under the Guise of Philanthropy and Development Aid, USAID has been instrumental in funding ngos, media houses, and so-callled networks that narrative propagate detrimental to india’s sovereignty and cultural manufacturing,” It Said and Highlighted Media Retorts Indicating Soros’ Foundation Received USAID funding.
The Trump War and Musk against the financing of NGOs “on the left” merged with that of the Modi government and the RSS network.
By the way, fraternal BJP and RSS organizations are recorded as NGOs, many of which receive foreign funding, including Hindu nationalists based in the United States.