‘Democratic process of country was sought to be modulated’: V-P Dhankhar on USAID row

NEW DELHI: After US President Donald Trump again raised the issue of alleged US funding of $21 million for voter turnout in India and dubbed it ‘kickbacks’, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar said on Friday that he was “stunned” and said that the revelations of the Trump suggested that the “democratic process of this country was sought to be modulated” and “manipulated”

“…Recently, this revelation has come, I was stunned to see it. What has been revealed by the President of the United States with full sense of responsibility is that the democratic process of this country was sought to be modulated, manipulated. To dent and taint the purity of our election system. I am sure it emanates from a person in authority. One thing is right because that is factual. The amount was given, and it is not a small amount,” Dhankhar said while speaking at the second Global Conference of Meditation at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi.

“We must get to the roots of it. It must be eradicated from the root. We must find out who are those people who accepted this kind of invasion. We must expose them…,” V-P Dhankhar added.

A day after US President Donald Trump spoke about $21 million being sent to India for voter turnout, he has reiterated the charge. And no, he is not confusing it with the $29 million funneled into Bangladesh. This time, he has also mentioned kickbacks. Essentially, this money is… pic.twitter.com/Eaj9uXcFx4

— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) February 21, 2025

Trump, on Thursday (local time), again questioned the US government’s allocation of USD 21 million for voter turnout in India, calling it a “kickback scheme”. He also spoke about the funding of USD 21 million for strengthening the political landscape in Bangladesh and USD 19 million for biodiversity in Nepal.

Addressing the Republican Governors Association (RGA) meeting, Trump said, “And USD 21 million for voter turnout in India. Why are we caring about India turnout? We got enough problems. We want our own turnout, don’t we? Can you imagine all that money going to India? I wonder what they think when they get it. Now, it’s a kickback scheme. You know, it’s not like they get it and they spend, they kick it back to the people that send it. I would say in many cases, many of these cases, anytime you have no idea what we’re talking about, that means there’s a kickback because nobody has any idea what’s going on there. USD 29 million to strengthen the political landscape in Bangladesh. Nobody knows what they mean by political landscape. What does that mean?”

“USD 20 million for fiscal federalism and USD 19 million for biodiversity in Nepal, USD 47 million for improving learning outcomes in Asia. What the hell do I care about? We got a lot. We got enough problems and all of this is terminated. We terminated this stuff and we’re on the track. And by the way, there were so many others I could have I could read all night long, but so many were so terrible, and were actually disgusting. And I know you’re eating your dinner, so I didn’t want to do that but we’re draining the swamp,” he added.

Meanwhile, Bhartiya Janata Party’s Gaurav Bhatia on Friday accused Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi of taking support of “anti-india forces” in his attempt to defeat Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The BJP leader cited US President Donald Trump’s recent allegation that American aid funds were being used to interfere in India’s electoral process.

Lashing out at Gandhi, Bhatia said that the Lok Sabha LoP wants to destroy the democracy of our country because he cannot “tolerate” PM Modi.”It is worrisome that the Leader of Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, who has taken oath under the constitution of India to preserve the integrity and sovereignty of our country is indulging in anti-India activities and acting as a stimulus for anti-India forces to interfere in the pure electoral process of our country. He (Rahul Gandhi) is taking the support of foreign forces to defeat PM Modi”, Bhatia said.

“They are not only after PM Modi but want to destroy the democracy of our country because India today under the leadership of PM Modi has become a global leader and he cannot tolerate and digest it, ” he said. (ANI)