A verbal clash has ignited between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress regarding US President Donald Trump’s remarks on the allocation of USD 21 million for enhancing voter turnout in India.
On Thursday, the BJP attempted to associate Donald Trump’s statements with Rahul Gandhi’s 2023 comments, which seemingly lamented concerns about protecting democracy in India.
In response, the Congress called for the Indian government to release a white paper detailing the support provided by the US agency to both government and non-government entities in India over the years.
Senior BJP figure Ravi Shankar Prasad presented audio recordings of Donald Trump and Rahul Gandhi, who made remarks in the UK in 2023, to criticize the Congress party and its leading representative.
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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.”
Commenting on his administration’s choice to halt USAID funding, Donald Trump stated, “Why should we allocate USD 21 million for boosting voter turnout in India? I suppose they were attempting to have someone else win the election.”
Congress referred to Donald Trump’s assertions about USAID as “absurd.”
In the midst of the $21 million scandal, focus shifted to Veena Reddy, the former India director for the US Agency for International Development (USAID), as BJP MP Mahesh Jethmalani questioned her involvement in the funding.
Who is Veena Reddy?
Veena Reddy is an American diplomat born in Andhra Pradesh.
Veena is a professional member of the US Senior Foreign Service and has held the role of mission director for USAID in India and Bhutan. Named in 2021, she became the first Indian-American to oversee USAID’s activities in these nations.
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On July 17, 2024, Veena Reddy announced her return to the US over a month after the Lok Sabha elections were declared, according to India Today.
Prior to her tenure in India, Reddy occupied multiple roles at USAID, notably as mission director in Cambodia, where she managed initiatives in food security, environmental issues, health care, education, child protection, and democratic governance.
