A war of words has erupted between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress over US President Donald Trump’s comments on the funding of USD 21 million for voter turnout in India. While the BJP on Thursday sought to link Donald Trump’s comments and Rahul Gandhi’s 2023 remarks apparently ruing lack of concerns abroad to protect democracy in the country, the Congress demanded that the Indian government should bring out a white paper on the US agency’s support to both governmental and non-governmental institutions in India over the decades.
Senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad played audio clips of Donald Trump and Rahul Gandhi, who had made the comments in the UK in 2023, to slam the Congress and its main face.
Prasad said, “It is a matter of shame what the Congress has done. Rahul Gandhi has made a joke of Indian democracy abroad and sought help from democracies abroad. It means he sought support to help him win as the Congress keeps losing elections.”
Referring to his government’s decision to cancel the funding of USAID, Donald Trump said, “Why do we need to spend USD 21 million for voter turnout in India? I guess they were trying to get somebody else elected.”
The Congress dubbed Donald Trump’s claims related to USAID as “nonsensical”.
Amid the $21 million controversy, attention also turned to Veena Reddy, former India director for the US Agency for International Development (USAID), after BJP MP Mahesh Jethmalani raised questions about her role in the funding.
“So, DOGE has discovered that USAID allocated $21 million for ‘voter turnout’ in India, a euphemism for paying voters to cast their votes to effect regime change. Veena Reddy was sent to India in 2021 (ominous?) as head of USAID’s Indian mission. Post Lok Sabha elections 2024 (presumably her voter turnout mission done), she returned to the US. Pity because investigating agencies here could have asked her some questions about who this money was given to for applying it to voter turnout operations,” said Mahesh Jethmalani posted on X.
So #DOGE has discovered that #USAID allocated $21million for “voter turnout” in India ,a euphemism for paying voters to cast their votes to effect regime change. #VeenaReddy was sent to India in 2021 ( ominous?) as head of USAIDs Indian mission . Post #loksabha elections 2024 (…
— Mahesh Jethmalani (@JethmalaniM) February 16, 2025
Who Is Veena Reddy?
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- Veena Reddy is an Andhra Pradesh-born American diplomat.
- Veena Reddy is a career member of the US Senior Foreign Service and has served as the mission director for the USAID in India and Bhutan. Appointed in 2021, she was the first Indian-American to lead USAID’s operations in these countries.
- On July 17, 2024, Veena Reddy said she was returning to the US more than a month after the Lok Sabha elections were announced, India Today reported.
- Before her tenure in India, Reddy held various positions within the USAID, including mission director in Cambodia, where she oversaw programmes in food security, environment, health, education, child protection, and democracy and governance.
- She also served as deputy mission director in Haiti, managing post-earthquake reconstruction efforts and economic growth initiatives.
