US President Donald Trump has justified his controversial statement regarding a $21 million grant that he believes was allocated for India, not Bangladesh. According to a media report, the grant was intended for Dhaka, not New Delhi.
Trump remarked, “$21 million going to my friend Prime Minister Narendra Modi and India for voter turnout. We’re giving $21 million for voter turnout in India. What about us? I want voter turnout too.” This was his third consecutive remark on the topic, with this instance being the first to directly address the Indian Prime Minister.
In addition, Trump mentioned a separate $29 million USAID fund designated for Bangladesh to “strengthen the political landscape.” He asserted, “The $29 million in Bangladesh went to a firm no one had ever heard of, with only two people working at that firm.”
Amit Malviya, chief of the BJP IT Cell, took to social media to criticise Trump’s statements. He tweeted, “For the third day in a row, US President Donald Trump reiterated his claims about USAID funding for voter turnout in India… But what does he really know about spending in his own country? The Indian Express and the deranged Left think they know better!”
Meanwhile, speaking on behalf of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal expressed concern over the information released by the US administration regarding specific US funding activities. “We have seen the information provided by the US administration concerning certain activities and funding. These are certainly very troubling,” Jaiswal was reported as saying.
In response to Trump’s claims, the Indian government labelled the allegations as “very deeply troubling.” Concurrently, Congress member Pawan Khera accused the BJP of seeking “direct help from external forces” to undermine UPA governments.
Earlier, Trump raised questions about the logic of spending millions on voter turnout in a foreign country, saying, “I have a lot of respect for India and the Prime Minister. He just left, as you know, two days ago. But we’re giving $21 million for voter turnout. It’s voter turnout in India. What about, like, voter turnout here? Oh, we’ve done that, I guess. We did USD 500 million, didn’t we? It’s called the lockboxes.”
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