The tech mogul Elon Musk-led U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been attacking U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), accusing it of waste and fraud. DOGE’s February 16 announcement canceling some specific USAID plans for funding abroad, including $21 million ostensibly for “voter turnout in India,” has triggered a political controversy in India.

Within hours, Sanjeev Sanyal, a member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s economic advisory council, shared the post and wrote that he would love to find out “who received” the $21 million spent to improve “voter turnout in India,” as well as the $29 million for “strengthening [the] political landscape in Bangladesh” and $29 million to improve “fiscal federalism” in Nepal.

“USAID is the biggest scam in human history,” Sanyal wrote.

Even though DOGE’s tweet spoke of money “going to be spent,” a political slugfest about the past beneficiaries erupted in India.

“$21M for voter turnout? This definitely is external interference in India’s electoral process. Who gains from this? Not the ruling party for sure!” said Amit Malviya, one of the prominent spokespersons of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In another tweet, Malviya alleged that Hungarian-American billionaire philanthropist George Soros’ “shadow looms over our electoral process.”

Describing Soros as “a known associate of the Congress party and the Gandhis,” Malviya highlighted that in 2012, the Election Commission of India headed by S.Y. Quraishi signed a memorandum of understanding with the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES). Malviya said the IFES is “linked to George Soros’s Open Society Foundation, which is primarily funded by USAID.”

The Congress, which is now the main opposition party, rubbished the charges and alleged that the funds were actually used to destabilize the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance-II government, whose defeat in the 2014 general elections saw the Modi-led BJP come to power.
Responding to Malviya’s charge, Pawan Khera, who heads the Congress’ media and........

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