A major political controversy has erupted in India over a $21 million US government grant aimed at "boosting voter turnout."
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00:00America's deep state is interfering in Indian politics.
00:12That's the accusation being made against United States government agencies like USAID by India's
00:17ruling party.
00:18At the centre of this whole controversy is a $21 million grant given for boosting voter
00:23turnout in India by the US government.
00:26The details of this grant are still unclear.
00:27Who was the money spent to?
00:29How was it spent?
00:30And was it even spent at all?
00:32But a major controversy has now broken out with the BJP even accusing the United States
00:36deep state of engaging in regime change in India.
00:40But the real story seems a bit more complicated than that.
00:43On this episode of Threadbare, we take a look at this controversy.
00:46Is America really trying to interfere in Indian politics and what exactly can India do about
00:50it?
00:59So let's start with the basics.
01:00Earlier this week, Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency put out a tweet.
01:04This tweet said that United States government funding was being cut for hundreds of millions
01:09of dollars worth of US government programs.
01:12But what caught everyone's eye was a $486 million grant made for funding the Consortium
01:17for Elections and Political Process Strengthening.
01:21Included in that grant was $21 million for the purposes of boosting voter turnout in
01:26India.
01:27This instantly sparked a controversy in India.
01:30Spokespersons of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party questioned why US government
01:34money was being used to boost turnout in India.
01:37It was labelled a case of clear external interference in Indian politics.
01:42They also suggested that the money was being used to benefit India's opposition.
01:45It's worth looking at this issue in detail to figure out whether America is really trying
01:50to interfere in Indian politics.
01:52The group, which reportedly received $21 million from the US government, is known as the Consortium
01:57for Elections and Political Process Strengthening.
01:59That's a fairly large name, but this consortium also includes groups like the National Democratic
02:03Institute, the International Republican Institute, and the International Foundation for Electoral
02:07Systems.
02:08Each of these are think tanks that are focused on pretty much the same mission.
02:12They work in countries around the world to promote American values by strengthening democratic
02:17systems, helping foreign countries conduct elections, and so on and so forth.
02:21This means that they work with political parties, election commissions, and civil society groups
02:25all over the world.
02:26Now, each of these three think tanks works extremely closely with the US government,
02:31and it is fair to say that they are an instrument of American foreign policy abroad.
02:36This Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening, in particular, works
02:40extremely closely with America's USAID.
02:43Now, USAID, as you may have heard, is America's premier international aid agency.
02:48Last year, it gave roughly $40 billion in humanitarian aid around the world.
02:52USAID was first set up in 1961 during the Cold War, when America was competing with
02:56the Soviet Union for influence.
02:59Its job was to promote economic development in foreign nations, but USAID also had the
03:03strategic purpose of pushing American interests and values, like democracy.
03:08USAID has also been active in India for decades.
03:11Since 2001, it has spent roughly $3 billion on projects in India, with this massive amount
03:15of money being spent across Congress and BJP-led governments.
03:19$650 million of that funding has come over just the last four years, reports Money Control.
03:24Now, there are reasonable reasons why people are suspicious about USAID working in India.
03:30Indian critics of USAID point to its funding for Freedom House, which is a think tank that
03:34has criticized the state of Indian democracy.
03:36They also argue that USAID has funded non-profit organizations that have accused Indian industrialists
03:41like Gautam Adani of corruption.
03:43They also say that this is evidence of USAID's desire to discredit India's ruling government
03:48with US government funds.
03:50Backing up their arguments is USAID's history.
03:52During the 1960s and 1970s, USAID was working closely with America's Central Intelligence
03:57Agency to advance US interests.
04:00In fact, USAID had trained police and military personnel all over the world.
04:04This was especially true in undemocratic states used to repress people.
04:07This was a significant controversy that damaged USAID's reputation, and it continues to haunt
04:11the agency to this day.
04:14More recently, USAID was linked to efforts to destabilize the Castro regime in Cuba.
04:19Nations like Russia and Kenya have also complained about USAID activities and political interference
04:23in their countries.
04:24So, it's true that USAID has a pretty complicated history, and India also has a very unpleasant
04:30memory of US government agencies funding domestic organizations.
04:35Critics of USAID argue that America has used covert means in the past to push its influence
04:39among think tanks and non-profit organizations.
04:42The Rampart Scandal of 1967 was actually the first big example of this.
04:46In that case, it was discovered that the Central Intelligence Agency was funding non-profit
04:50organizations and think tanks to secretly push America's agenda in India.
04:54This scandal kicked off decades of fear and paranoia in India that US government agencies
04:58were meddling in Indian politics.
05:01And that's a pretty big part of what we're seeing today with this latest USAID controversy.
05:05But here's the thing, there are also some important questions that we need to ask about
05:08this latest controversy.
05:10First, it's unclear who received the $21 million from the United States government
05:13in the first place, and whether this money was actually spent.
05:16Remember that we're talking about the Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening,
05:21again a very long name.
05:22But protests say that the consortium does not have a presence in India, and the think
05:26tanks that are a part of this consortium don't have any offices or activities in India over
05:30the last few years.
05:32That could be because India is very careful about having foreign agencies with US government
05:36support getting involved in domestic politics.
05:39Targeting USAID also raises another awkward question.
05:42If USAID is really interested in regime change in India, why have successive Indian governments
05:46accepted over $2 billion in funding from it over the last 20 years?
05:50In particular, USAID has provided India record amounts of funding over just the last 4 years,
05:55with projects supporting the government in poverty alleviation, sanitation projects and
05:58water projects.
05:59USAID has also worked closely with India's foreign ministry.
06:02In fact, USAID is India's key partner on bilateral projects that are implemented in
06:06third countries around the world.
06:08These agreements were just signed in the last couple of years.
06:10USAID chief Samantha Power also met foreign minister S.J. Shankar in 2022.
06:15And USAID hasn't always just criticised India.
06:18It also praised New Delhi for its role in handling the economic crisis in Sri Lanka.
06:22All of this means that we need more information about this latest water turnout controversy.
06:26Why did the US government provide this money, whom did it go to, how was it spent, and what
06:31does that mean for India-US relations?
06:34To be clear, USAID is absolutely pushing for American interests in India and abroad.
06:39It is not a charity.
06:40And it also has a very complicated history, which explains why Indians are so suspicious
06:45about these latest allegations.
06:47But India's government has also been happy to work with USAID despite all these concerns,
06:51which makes this a deeper controversy which needs to be looked into.
06:55Thanks for watching Third By with me, Shashank Mathew.
06:57You can catch this show again next week on India Today Global.