"Anybody becoming weapon of foreign forces is working against India": Rajeev Chandrasekhar slams USAID funding

Chandrasekhar alleged that certain political figures and groups within the country are acting as tools of external forces to hinder India's progress and that they had become weapons in the hands of countries and people who don't want to see India rise.

The BJP leader further called for a united front against these alleged elements and urged citizens to demand accountability.

"Every Indian should come together and ask for these types of people and traitors to be exposed and prosecuted because anybody who is becoming a weapon in the hands of foreign forces is certainly working against the interests of India and Indians," he said.

In a self-made video on X, Rajeev Chandrasekhar said, "This shocking revelation that organisations like USAID were funnelling Crores of Rupees to organisations in India confirm that all of these protests that we were seeing over the last several years were foreign-funded. They were being instigated and puppet-mastered from across the border and there are people in India, including political leaders, dynasts who have essentially become weapons in the hands of countries and people who don't want to see India rise."

"I have said this before and I am saying it again, India's rise, and transformation over the last 10 years under PM Narendra Modi has not been to the happiness and satisfaction of many people and forces around the world. They are trying their very best to undermine India and slow India's rise," he stated in the video.

Adding further, he said, "There are people in India who have become the tools of these types of forces. So, my appeal is, that every Indian should come together and ask for these type of people and traitors to be exposed and them to be prosecuted because anybody who is becoming a weapon in the hands of foreign forces, certainly is working against the interest of India and Indians."

Earlier on Sunday, Rajeev Chandrasekhar slammed USAID over its funding allocations in South Asia, including $21 million intended for increasing voter turnout in India.

Describing the expenditure as a "smoking gun of interference", Chandrasekhar said it undermines democratic nations under the guise of promoting democratic values.

The BJP leader was responding to a post by the Department of Government Efficiency, which outlined a list of expenditures funded by US taxpayer dollars--all of which have now been cancelled. "Smoking gun of Interference and undermining of Democracies - Shocking that on one hand there is a discussion on democratic values and on another hand there is brazen undermining of democratic nations," he said on X.

"$486 Mln for 'Consortium of Elections and Political strengthening' - wth does that mean? and why?- $29mln (300crs) to Bangladesh "Strengthening Political landscape in Bangladesh" - translated to mean overthrow a democratically elected PM - $21M (200crs) for "voter turnout in India" - whose voters for whom? who received this money?" his post read.

"It reinforces the belief that almost all these "protests" had external funding/forces and puppet masters behind them. I hope we investigate the money trail in India fully and who did what with the 'USAID' money," read his post.

Earlier, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey alleged that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was involved in funding elements, who in the guise of journalism, are trying to ally with foreign powers to destabilize and "balkanise" India.

Speaking to ANI, Dubey said he will speak in the Parliament about how the USAID allegedly fund these politicians and journalists.

Stating that the Trump administration is investigating the matter, Dubey said the Indian government will also probe it and "expose everything."

Recently, US President Donald Trump criticised the US Agency for International Development (USAID), claiming that the agency's handling of funds is "fraudulently and unexplainable" and said that the agency should "close down."

"USAID is driving the radical left crazy, and there is nothing they can do about it because how the money has been spent, so much of it fraudulently, is unexplainable. The corruption is at levels rarely seen before. Close it down," Trump wrote on X.

Notably, White House Press Secretary Karoline Levitt on February 3, criticised USAID and pointed out projects like USD 1.5 million for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programmes (DEI) in Serbia, a transgender opera in Colombia, and a DEI musical in Ireland and called these projects "wasteful spending of American taxpayer dollars."

Her remarks came after Trump had appointed Secretary of State Marco Rubio as acting administrator of the USAID, confirming the de-facto takeover of the humanitarian agency by the State Department. (ANI)