USAID-Linked Covert Ops Deeply Entrenched in India's System: BJP Leaders
US President Donald Trump questioned the need to spend $21 million on voter turnout in India, suggesting it was an effort to influence elections, validating BJP concerns about the Biden administration's attempts to topple PM Modi.
SputnikThe United States covert operations, through organisations like US Agency for International Development (USAID), George Soros' Open Society Foundations (OSF) and National Endowment for Democracy (NED), are deeply entrenched in the Indian system and should be thoroughly investigated, BJP politicians have told Sputnik India.
"There has to be an investigation into every person and entity who's been connected to USAID in India. That's essential to get to the root cause of USAID's real intent in India," demanded BJP politician and author Savio Rodrigues. "These Deep State assets try to influence political and social influencers, academia, think tanks, media and civil society to shape societal narratives."
He suggested that pushing an "anti-government narrative" hostile to Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been one of the key focal areas of USAID and other Deep State assets in India.
"Since 2014, the predominant narrative against PM Modi is that the BJP poses a threat to minorities and those from lower-castes, a fact reflected in successive United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF)
reports, which even went to the extent of naming BJP leaders like Home Minister and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath," Rodrigues said.
The BJP leader recounts that USAID and George Soros-linked groups have sought to exploit political and religious faultlines in India at every opportunity.
"During the Covid pandemic, sections of influential media exaggerated the problems encountered by the Modi government in controlling the situation. During the farmer protests as well as the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests in PM Modi's second term, there were organisations and American influencers who supported the anti-government narrative," Rodrigues stressed.
USAID has also been a major benefactor of World Vision – Christian humanitarian organisation – which has been found to have indulged in
illegal conversion activities in India, he said.
In February 2021, USAID-backed Justice for Migrant Women paid for an advertisement in the New York Times to back the anti-government farmer protests in India, Rodrigues emphasised.
Noting that Wikileaks had uncovered this month how USAID pumped $472.6 million into the Internews Network, which is allegedly engaged in promoting covert censorship and controlling media, the BJP leader stated that even this organisation has linkages to some prominent Indian journalists known to be critical of PM Modi.
Commenting on how USAID might have exactly sought to
boost voter turnout in India, Rodrigues opined that Deep State's "modus operandi" has been to reach out to voters through various media, influencers and entities.
"They have tried to whip a sense of insecurity. This is observed even more in areas where there are larger minority or economically backward populations, in order to exploit their concerns. Then, the narrative also seeks to create divisions among Hindus themselves, which may be on the basis of caste or how the
caste census narrative was pushed from a Soros-backed academic Christophe Jaffrelot," he said.
Rodrigues asserted that there are economic motives behind Deep State's involvement in India as well, as these agencies viewed India as a "big market" and a "laboratory" for testing new healthcare and agriculture products.
"There is a complete playbook. And in that playbook, there is a need to not have a unified India or to prevent the rise of India as Bharat. Clearly, they didn't want PM Modi to remain in power. Such evil intentions were clearly defeated by the Indian voters in successive elections," stated Rodrigues.
Hostile actors such as USAID and Soros-backed OSF, which challenge India's sovereignty, shouldn't be allowed to "operate unchecked" in India anymore, Binay Kumar Singh, BJP leader, author, columnist and researcher, told Sputnik India.
"India doesn't need any external actors dictating its policies and political discourse. While genuine civil society activity is welcome, organisations like USAID serving geopolitical interests need to be scrutinised properly. India's rise as a global power certainly depends on its ability to resist foreign meddling and uphold its own national interest," Singh stressed.
Singh said that India had every right to be sceptical of these organisations, noting that they had a track-record of interfering in internal affairs of many countries under the garb of promoting democracy, human rights and development.
"Their actions have been found to be aligning with vested geopolitical interests rather than the genuine well-being of our country. Both USAID and OSF have a long track-record of funding specific groups pushing certain ideological agendas, sometimes even supporting violent groups to create instability in many countries," the BJP politician remarked.
According to an investigation by Disinfo Lab, USAID funds have found their way into entities advocating secession of Kashmir, USCIRF, Islamist groups, anti-Hindutva organisations as well as into Soros-backed OSF, which has acted as a conduit for channeling USAID money into other groups hostile to PM Modi.
At a government level, USAID's association with India dates back to the 1950s, when it began donating to India's food aid programme, which was discontinued only in 2012. The USAID was also a major funder of India's National Family Health Survey (NFHS) till 2021, giving the agency access to data of Indian families.
In 2011, India's Election Commission signed an MoU with USAID-backed International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) for "best electoral practices". Since 2014, USAID has signed pacts with India on advancing "cashless payments" and supporting 'net zero emissions' in Indian Railways among others. In 2023, disbursed around $175.71 million of funds to India, including $7.43 million for "democracy, human rights and governance", according to USAspending.gov.
The involvement of USAID in India, at a government and the civil society level, and its alleged efforts to oust PM Modi, have sparked a political row in the country, with both ruling BJP and opposition Congress accusing each other of colluding with foreign actors. Both the parties have demanded a probe into USAID activities, with Congress calling for a "white paper" on the issue on Thursday, a day after Trump's statement.
Only a "systematic, objective and a transparent manner" could lead to a decisive outcome, Abhinav Pandya, the CEO of Usanas Foundation, told Sputnik India, as he urged the political parties to back a thorough probe.
The recent revelation about USAID's involvement with 15 Indian government agencies, civil society organisations, and think tanks highlights a potential vulnerability of India as an open and democratic society to foreign influence, he remarked.
While Indian entities registered under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) are allowed to collaborate with foreign organisations, the scope of what qualifies as "interference" remains a complex and debated issue, he underlined.
"We need to investigate as to which politicians, community leaders or even media they might have been in touch with in order to influence voter turnout. A plausible scenario could be these recipient individuals communicating the USAID agenda to Indian voters through social media and even through in-person meetings." Pandya stated.
He suggested examining possible connections between Indian political candidates and entities linked to the Deep State, like USAID. The expert raised concerns about Deep State influence in Indian bureaucracy, noting that those with relatives in the US are vulnerable to influence or blackmail. Additionally, US training further exposes them to such risks.
Finally, Pandya stated that there is a remote possibility the Deep State and USAID played a role in toppling the previous Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government by supporting the Anti-Corruption Movement leading up to the 2014 election.
"There is a chance that the Deep State didn't get the expected favours from the Modi government, ultimately prompting the Deep State to change tack and again bat for BJP's ouster in 2019 and 2024 elections," the thinktank chief concluded.