Date: February 19, 2025
Donald Trump Cancels $21M US Grant for Voter Turnout in India
Donald Trump Scraps $21M Grant for India’s Voter Turnout Initiative
The US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by tech billionaire Elon Musk, has scrapped a $21 million grant intended to boost voter turnout in India. Days after this decision, US President Donald Trump defended the move, questioning why US taxpayer money should be spent on such an initiative.
Speaking from his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, Trump strongly criticized the funding:
“Why are we giving $21 million to India? They have a lot of money. They are one of the highest-taxing countries in the world when it comes to us. We can hardly get in there because their tariffs are so high. I respect India and its Prime Minister, but why fund voter turnout in India? What about voter turnout here?”
Trump’s remarks have sparked a political debate both in the US and India.
BJP Calls the Canceled Grant ‘External Interference’
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has reacted sharply to the cancellation, calling the grant an attempt at external interference in India’s electoral process.
BJP national spokesperson Amit Malviya questioned the true motive behind the grant:
“$21M for voter turnout? This funding was nothing short of external interference in India’s elections. Who benefits from this? Certainly not the ruling party!”
He further alleged that this initiative was part of a larger foreign agenda to influence Indian institutions. Malviya also pointed fingers at billionaire investor George Soros, who has been accused of influencing domestic politics worldwide through his Open Society Foundations.
Donald Trump: List of Cancelled Global Grants
The US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) released a list of taxpayer-funded programs that have been eliminated. Citing them as unnecessary and unjustifiable expenses.
The post, shared on X (formerly Twitter), detailed multiple scrapped initiatives, including:
$21 million for voter turnout in India
$29 million for political reforms in Bangladesh
$39 million for fiscal federalism and biodiversity conservation in Nepal
The DOGE emphasized that US taxpayer dollars should prioritized for domestic initiatives rather than foreign interventions.
Is This a Shift in US Foreign Policy?
The decision to cut funding for international initiatives aligns with Trump’s “America First” policy, which focuses on reducing US spending abroad.
However, the move has sparked diplomatic and political debates, with critics arguing that such cuts could affect the US’s global influence.