Musk cancels USAID’s $21 mn grant on ‘voter turnout in India’

Elon Musk-led US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) on Sunday announced cancellation of grants worth millions of American dollars which the now disbanded USAID had pledged across countries, including India and Bangladesh.

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“US taxpayer dollars were going to be spent on the following items, all which have been cancelled,” Musk wrote on X listing 15 separate USAID grant heads, including a massive $21 million for “voter turnout in India”.

Another grant that Musk cancelled related to $29 million to “strengthen political landscape in Bangladesh”.

Following the resignation of Sheikh Hasina on August 5, 2024, violence broke out between protesters and opposition activists on one side and Hasina’s Awami League supporters, government and security officials on the other. Hasina fled to India and has since been here. DOGE action follows its mandate to improve governance and curb wasteful expenditures.

The list Musk shared included $486 million in grants to the Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening that included $21 million for “voter turnout in India” and $22 million for “inclusive and participatory political process in Moldova”.

Reacting to the development, BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya said the grant amounts to external interference in India’s elections.

He asked who the beneficiary was asserting that it was ‘not the ruling party for sure’.

“$21M for voter turnout? This definitely is external interference in India’s electoral process. Who gains from this? Not the ruling party for sure!” the BJP’s IT department head said on X.

Malviya said the now cancelled programme was a pointer to the previous Congress-led UPA government allegedly enabling infiltration of Indian institutions by forces opposed to the country’s interests.

DOGE announcement of grant cut backs comes after PM Narendra Modi’s official visit to the US where President Donald Trump denied the involvement of US deep state in the political upheavel in Bangladesh.