A 'false' DOGE claim and the ashes of the wake

Last week, billionaire Elon Musk 's Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE) posted a list of now-cancelled foreign funds on social media, which among other things, included a reference to "$21M for voter turnout in India".

Whether Musk was aware of the implications of the post or not, it stirred up a political firestorm in India, making the headlines, and sparking bitter exchanges between the ruling Modi government and its political opposition.

The Hindu nationalist BJP, which has long harboured suspicions of foreign influence on national politics, jumped on the DOGE post to allege the existence of some nefarious foreign plot.

While several officials and post-holders of the Modi government labelled the revelations as concerning and warranting a thorough investigation, things blew up again a couple of days back when US President Donald Trump raked up the issue of funds being sent to India.

Speaking at the Governor's Working Session on February 21, Trump, while referring to DOGE's "little list", categorically said , "...And $21 million going to my friend Prime Minister Modi in India for voter turnout. We're giving $21 million for voter turnout in India ... what about us? I want voter turnout too..."

The US President's comments on Friday were immediately seized upon by opposition parties in India, who questioned the Modi government's silence on the comments made by the Prime Minister's 'good friend' Trump.

The political fires in India are yet to be put out.

Amid all this, it turns out that DOGE's claim itself may have been false: according to a report by The Washington Post , no evidence could be found to suggest that the $21 million earmarked for India was spent on influencing voter turnout.

The publication, which carried out an investigation into DOGE's claims, cited three people with knowledge of regional aid programmes, all of whom expressed bewilderment over the claim that $21 million was pumped into India to influence voter turnouts.

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In a social media post on February 16, DOGE claimed it had cancelled over $700 million in foreign grants for various causes, grants which were going to countries all over the world.

Within this overall figure, DOGE cancelled a $486 million grant to the USAID-funded Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening (CEPPS), a group of non-profit organisations "dedicated to advancing and supporting democratic practices and institutions". According to an archived version of the CEPPS website, which was taken down after Trump entered the Oval Office for his second stint, the consortium was founded in 1995 and operated in 140 nations around the world.

Of this $486 million, DOGE included a reference to "$21M for voter turnout in India".

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The Washington Post 's investigation into CEPPS programmes, however, revealed that the consortium had no programme in India that matched DOGE's description. The probe also found that CEPPS did have a $21 million contract, which wasn't for India, but for neighbouring Bangladesh.

So glaring was the discrepancy, that a US official with knowledge of aid programmes told the publication, "It seems that they [DOGE] are conflating numbers from other programs."

Another person familiar with CEPPS' work told the Post , "We don't know anything about elections in India because we have never been involved. We were all shocked to see that claim from DOGE."

Yet, the damage has been done. In the week that has passed since the social media post by DOGE, BJP supporters and leaders have found more substance to the narrative that foreign actors have worked to undermine the Modi government, and have even alleged involvement of billionaire philanthropist George Soros and the "deep state" in undermining the functioning of the elected government.

To that end, BJP leaders and supporters have also targeted opposition political parties, claiming that under the UPA government in 2012, an agreement was signed between the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), one of the three organisations that CEPPS is composed of.

Citing the agreement, the BJP claimed , "It is becoming increasingly clear that the Congress-led UPA systematically enabled the infiltration of India’s institutions by forces working against the nation’s interests—those who seek to weaken India at every opportunity."

However, the Post , in its investigation, found this allegation to be misleading as well: the publication, citing people familiar with the terms of the agreement, wrote that IFES was contracted by the Election Commission of India (ECI) to develop an election management curriculum that has since been used to train electoral officials from around the world—the ECI boasts of having trained nearly 70,000 election officials from 109 countries.

Even S Y Quraishi, who served as India's Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) between 2010 and 2012 and set up the collaboration with IFES, said in a statement that the accusations surrounding the agreement were " completely false and malicious ".

Further, the Post investigation also found that the 2012 agreement between IFES and ECI had been updated as recently as August 2020, at the behest of officials picked by the Modi government.

A 'false' DOGE claim and the ashes of the wake

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