Amid the USAID funding row, the Congress on Sunday accused the BJP of indulging in “anti-national work” by spreading “fake news from America” and asserted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will also have to answer as to why the government is silent when US President Donald Trump and Elon Musk are “insulting” India repeatedly.The BJP has rejected all such allegations of the Congress and called Rahul Gandhi a “traitor”, accusing him of colluding with foreign forces in his bid to weaken India.
Congress general secretary in-charge Jairam Ramesh said, “BJP is a procession of liars and illiterates.The news about USD 21 million, on which the BJP and their bootlickers were jumping on, turned out to be fake.The USD 21 million in 2022 was not for ‘voter turnout’ in India, but for Bangladesh.”
Elon Musk made a fake claim, Trump got confused between Dhaka and Delhi, Amit Malviya spread the lie further, then the rest of BJP’s bootlickers seized on it,” he charged.
Ever since the Trump administration’s DOGE said on February 16 that USAID has cancelled the USD 21 million funding for “voting in India”, the BJP has been making fabricated allegations against the Congress, Ramesh said in his post in Hindi on X.
“But now it is coming to light that this entire news is fake. When the money has not even reached India, then what would be the cancellation?” he said.
The controversy is actually about two USAID grants on DOGE’s list that were given through the Washington-based Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening (CEPPS), the Congress leader said.