President Donald Trump defended the US Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) move to scrap a $21m grant to boost voter turnout in India and stirred a controversy after suggesting past US involvements in the Indian elections.
“What do we need to spend $21m on voter turnout in India?” Mr Trump asked at an event in Miami on Wednesday. “I guess they were trying to get somebody else elected.”
He continued: “We need to tell the Indian government because when we hear that Russia was trying to spend $2 in our country, it was a big deal, right? They [Russia] took some internet ads for $2,000. This is a total breakthrough.”
On Tuesday, Mr Trump had questioned why the US government was “giving $21m to India”.
“They got a lot more money. They are one of the highest taxing countries in the world in terms of us; we can hardly get in there because their tariffs are so high,” he reiterated.
“I have a lot of respect for India and their prime minister, but giving $21m for voter turnout? In India? What about voter turnout here?” Mr Trump said at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.
Billionaire Elon Musk-led DOGE over the weekend announced a series of expenditure cuts, including the grant allocated for voter turnout in India.
Announcing the cuts, the department said the “US taxpayer dollars were going to be spent on the following items, all (of) which have been cancelled”.
It included $486m in grants to the “Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening”, out of which $21m was allocated for “voter turnout in India”.
Mr Trump’s remark comes just days after Narendra Modi visited the White House, where Mr Trump warned India of reciprocal tariffs. Mr Trump’s threat to impose reciprocal tariffs from early April could potentially cost India’s export sectors losses of $7bn a year, according to Citi Research.
Mr Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) called the now-cancelled funding “external interference” in India’s electoral process. “$21M for voter turnout? This definitely is external interference in India’s electoral process. Who gains from this? Not the ruling party for sure!” party spokesperson Amit Malviya said.
DOGE has been tasked with slashing costs across the federal government. The department also announced axing a $10m grant for “Mozambique voluntary medical male circumcision”, $2m for “strengthening independent voices in Cambodia”, $40m for “gender equality and women empowerment hub” and $29m project to “strengthening political landscape in Bangladesh”, among others.
