US President Donald Trump has questioned the rationale behind spending $21 million on voter turnout in India through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Trump suggested the money was potentially used to influence elections, adding that the US should address the Indian government, calling the situation a ‘total breakthrough.’

“Why do we need to spend $21 million on voter turnout in India? I guess they were trying to get somebody else elected. We have got to tell the Indian Government… This is a total breakthrough,” President Donald Trump said, speaking at the FII Priority Summit in Miami, Florida, on Wednesday (local time).

Trump’s comments come after US government’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by billionaire Elon Musk, announced on February 16 that it had cancelled $21 million ‘taxpayer’ money intended for increasing ‘voter turnout in India’.

The move was part of DOGE’s ongoing crackdown on the United States Agency for International Development(USAID)-funded projects.

Why is USAID funding controversial?

The DOGE cancellation sparked a political controversy in India, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) claiming it proved an ‘instance of interference’ in India’s electoral process during the Congress-led UPA rule.

The opposition Congress hit back, questioning how the ruling party (Congress) was sabotaging its own electoral prospects by getting this so-called ‘external interference’.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government secured a third term with a reduced majority in Lok Sabha Elections, 2024. The BJP fell short of the halfway mark on its own and formed the government with the support of its NDA allies.

Earlier, Amit Malviya,  the in-charge of BJP’s National Information and Technology Department, said the $21 million for voter turnout in India was “definitely external interference in India’s electoral process”.

Trump vs Zelenskyy: What’s behind escalating war of words?

Trump called Zelenskyy a ‘dictator’ amid a brewing war of words between the two leaders.

United States President Donald Trump has called his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator” as the rift between them deepens over Ukraine peace negotiations.

Trump’s latest broadside against Zelenskyy came after the Ukrainian leader challenged his claims that Ukraine had started the war. Zelenskyy had also spoken against being left out of the Russia-US talks held in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Tuesday.

What did Trump say about Zelenskyy?

In a Wednesday post on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump wrote that Zelenskyy, a “moderately successful comedian”, has “talked the United States of America into spending $350 Billion Dollars, to go into a War that couldn’t be won, that never had to start”.

Trump added that Zelenskyy “refuses to have Elections, is very low in Ukrainian Polls, and the only thing he was good at was playing Biden ‘like a fiddle’”. He said Zelenskyy had done a “terrible job” as the leader of Ukraine, deeming him “A Dictator without Elections”.

“In the meantime, we are successfully negotiating an end to the War with Russia, something all admit only ‘TRUMP,’ and the Trump Administration, can do. Biden never tried, Europe has failed to bring Peace, and Zelenskyy probably wants to keep the ‘gravy train’ going.”

Why is Trump saying this and what else has he said?

Trump’s comments came a day after Zelenskyy said that Trump was inhabiting a “Russian-made disinformation space” regarding the war in Ukraine.

“The reason that Donald Trump is doing this is that he is notoriously thin-skinned. And he is not happy about the comments that Volodymyr Zelenskyy made earlier,” said Al Jazeera’s White House correspondent, Kimberly Halkett.