Deeply troubling': Govt as USAID row heats up

The Indian government is looking into reports of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funding election-related activities, the external affairs ministry said on Friday, describing the matter as “deeply troubling” since it related to foreign interference in internal affairs.

- Rezaul H Laskar

Various government agencies, departments and ministries are looking into the matter, which has become a hot button issue in domestic politics since the Donald Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) announced on February 16 that it cancelled allocations of hundreds of millions of dollars by USAID around the world, including $21 million for “voter turnout in India”.

“We have seen the information that has been put out by the US administration regarding certain USAID activities and funding. These are obviously very deeply troubling,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told a regular media briefing.

“This has led to concerns about foreign interference in India’s internal affairs. Relevant departments and agencies are looking into this matter,” he said.

The comment – the first official reaction to the controversy – came on a day when the political row over the revelations intensified, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress trading allegations.

Jaiswal declined to give details as to whether the USAID funding was already disbursed and the government bodies that are looking into the matter. “It would be premature to make a public comment at this stage,” he said.

Many Indian government agencies and several ministries have worked with USAID, and all of them are looking into this issue, Jaiswal said. “Therefore, first let them look into the matter, study the issues at hand and then, thereafter, we will come up with whatever we have to say,” he said.

People familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity that the ministries of home affairs, external affairs and finance, and specific ministries that have worked with USAID in the past, such as the health ministry, are involved in the exercise. The US side has provided no further information on the issue and USAID itself has not been forthcoming with any details, they said.