BJP, Congress spar over USAID funding allegations
New Delhi: A political firestorm erupted on Friday after a media report suggested that the $21 million aid in question from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was intended for Bangladesh and not India. The controversy quickly escalated into a heated exchange between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress, with both parties accusing each other of leveraging foreign funds to manipulate Indian politics.
Both parties held separate press conferences to reinforce their positions and attack each other. While the Congress demanded a white paper on USAID funding and similar foreign aid received by India, the BJP continued to target the opposition, branding Rahul Gandhi a “traitor.” The Congress seized upon the report to demand an apology from the BJP, alleging that the ruling party had spread misinformation to malign its image. “Lies first mouthed in Washington. Lies then amplified by BJP’s Jhoot Sena. Lies made to be debated on Godi media,” Congress leader Jairam Ramesh posted on X, formerly Twitter. “Lies now thoroughly exposed. Will the liars apologise?” he added. The BJP, however, dismissed the media report as a “cover-up” and maintained that the USAID funding was intended to interfere in India’s electoral process. BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia accused the Congress of colluding with foreign forces, saying, “The USAID funding came to India to meddle with internal politics and disrupt the electoral process in India. When the US President himself has made a statement on this funding, nobody else could have better knowledge about it than him.”
The controversy was fuelled further by former US President Donald Trump’s remarks. Trump, who has been attacking the Biden administration, claimed that the USAID funding to India for ‘voter turnout’ was part of a “kickback” scheme. His statement added weight to the BJP’s accusations, despite the media report clarifying that the sanctioned funds were for Bangladesh and not India. The Congress countered these allegations by asserting that the BJP was using the USAID controversy to divert attention from its own history of benefiting from foreign funds. Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera accused the BJP of orchestrating a “USD 21 million USAID funds narrative” to hide its “own sins” of destabilising past Congress-led governments.
“Let it be clear, we do not consider global partnerships, developmental agencies, and aid mechanisms such as the USAID as unscrupulous. It is the BJP that first started the deep-state narrative and demonising the USAID. However, we have enough evidence that the RSS-BJP has been taking covert assistance from foreign agencies to destabilise Indian democracy and bulldoze our Constitution,” Khera alleged.
Further escalating the debate, BJP’s IT cell head Amit Malviya dismissed the media report as “fake news,” claiming that it misrepresented facts to protect the Congress. He argued that while the report referenced USD 21 million in aid for Bangladesh in 2022, it overlooked USAID’s “tranche to promote voter turnout in India.”
The BJP also pointed to historical precedents to support its claims. Bhatia alleged that between 2004 and 2013, during the Congress-led UPA regime, “more than USD 2,000 million in funding came into India.” In contrast, he claimed, only “USD 1.5 million came during Modi ji’s tenure because foreign agencies know that Narendra Modi will not sell India and its interests.”
The allegations also extended to Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra. The BJP claimed that while direct funding to the Indian government had declined, USAID and other foreign agencies had increased financial support to non-governmental organisations (NGOs) linked to the Congress leader’s campaign. “While funding for the government (in India) stopped, there was an increase in funding for the NGOs during Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra to strengthen Rahul Gandhi ahead of the polls in an attempt to defeat Narendra Modi,” Bhatia alleged. The Congress hit back by recalling past instances where the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) allegedly sought foreign assistance. Khera accused the RSS of taking CIA aid during the Emergency period and later orchestrating the India Against Corruption movement, which led to the downfall of the UPA government, with financial support from organisations like the USAID and the Ford Foundation.
