The external affairs ministry on Friday said all central ministries and departments having tie-ups with USAID were looking into these collaborations after US President Donald Trump claimed that its funds were used to influence voters in India.
The Congress immediately went on the offensive and accused the Sangh Parivar of having taken foreign help to destabilise governments in the past.
Many claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is an alumnus of the American Council of Young Political Leaders, which gets funding from the US state department. USAID comes under the department.
Faced with a slew of questions on the USAID funding controversy, external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said: “We have seen information that has been put out by the US administration about certain USAID activities and funding.
“These are obviously very deeply troubling. These have led to concerns about foreign interference in India’s internal affairs. Relevant departments and agencies are looking into this matter. It would be premature to make a public comment at this stage.”
Jaiswal refused to divulge details on which agencies were looking into this and whether an inter-ministerial mechanism had been set up.
He refused to comment on whether any part of the $21 million allocated by USAID for voter turnout in India had been received before the newly minted US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) put a stop to it.
Trump has questioned the need for such US funding to India. He has spoken on it thrice this week, alternately suggesting that it was used “to get somebody else elected” without disclosing who it was to benefit and then claiming it was a “kickback scheme”.
After calling for a white paper on all the USAID funding that has come to India since its inception, the Congress on Friday launched a blistering attack on the BJP, alleging that the narrative manufactured by the ruling party was an attempt to divert attention from its use of foreign funds to “destabilise” governments in the past, including that of Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Manmohan Singh.
The BJP has over the past week been accusing the Congress in general and Rahul Gandhi in particular of using foreign intervention to influence Indian elections.
Citing The Indian Express report which said the $21 million was for voter turnout in Bangladesh and not India, Congress media and publicity department chairman Pawan Khera said the Modi government was clueless about this “though it claims to have a James Bond and a Chanakya”.
Clarifying that the Congress is not against global partnerships with aid and development agencies like USAID, Khera said these funds were routed legally.
Stating that NGOs aligned to the Sangh Parivar have also received such funding, he lambasted the BJP for targetting the Congress and listed a series of MoUs signed by departments of the Modi government with USAID over the past decade.