USAID’s Role In 2024 Lok Sabha Elections? Trump Doesn’t Rule It Out

United States President Donald Trump on Friday (14 February) acknowledged the possibility that USAID may have influenced India's Lok Sabha elections last year.

During a joint press conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Trump was questioned about USAID’s role in the 2020 US presidential elections and India's 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

"It (USAID) could have had a role in Indian elections. Bad things happened in 2020 and in 2024," Trump said, Business Standard reported.

"But the 2024 US polls were too big to rig. But I think they probably tried. We are looking to go to a system where there is one-day voting, voter ID and paper ballots ... when they do that we will clean it up really well ... bad things happen," Trump added.

Trump called the 2024 election a "great one," emphasising that it gave him the opportunity to work with PM Modi and enhance US-India ties.

The Trump administration has imposed a global stop-work directive on USAID, suspending most aid initiatives, except for critical food relief programmes.

Most USAID employees have been put on leave, and those posted overseas are being recalled.

This development gains significance as earlier in the Lok Sabha, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey had urged the government to investigate organisations receiving USAID funding, alleging that many of them were responsible for unrest in the country.

Speaking during Zero Hour, Dubey alleged that these organisations were involved in protests against the Agniveer programme, pushed for caste-based censuses, and backed Naxal activities.

Congress MPs protested Dubey’s remarks and attempted to raise a point of order, but presiding officer Sandhya Ray disallowed interventions during Zero Hour.

Dubey also asserted that Trump had shut down USAID, arguing that the agency had used its funds to undermine governments globally.

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