Modi Govt Launches Probe into USAID and Soros: Was the 2024 Lok Sabha Poll Targeted?

India’s political scene is heating up again! The Narendra Modi government has kicked off a major investigation into whether foreign forces, including the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and billionaire George Soros, tried to meddle in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. With tensions rising and the opposition firing back, this story has everyone talking. Let’s break it down in simple terms and see what’s really going on as of February 20, 2025.

The Modi government isn’t playing around. Sources say they’ve started digging into a massive list shared between India and the US, packed with names of NGOs, influencers, journalists, scholars, and think tanks tied to USAID funding. The goal? To figure out if anyone tried to mess with India’s elections or its sovereignty. They’re even sending out questionnaires to some folks on the list and asking about foreign trips and shady money transfers. It’s a slow and steady process—sources say the government wants to get it right, not rush it.

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Here’s where it gets juicy. The US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk, recently axed a $21 million grant that was supposedly meant to boost “voter turnout in India” under former President Joe Biden’s administration. That cash was part of a whopping $486 million package for something called the “Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening.” The Modi government isn’t happy, saying India’s elections are the job of the Election Commission—not foreign aid. The big question: Was this money meant to sway the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, where Modi’s BJP-led NDA won 293 seats?

The opposition, led by Congress, isn’t buying it. Pawan Khera, a Congress spokesperson, took to X to ask why they’d take foreign cash to lose the election—after all, they only nabbed 99 seats. But government insiders argue the opposition was pushing a narrative during the campaign that democracy was crumbling, hoping it’d swing votes their way. It didn’t work, and Modi’s NDA stayed in power. Congress MP Jairam Ramesh, meanwhile, called the claims “nonsensical” and demanded a white paper to spill the beans on USAID’s history in India since 1961.

This isn’t just about politics—it’s about trust. Back in 2024, Modi warned at a Karnataka rally that “powers in the world and India” were out to stop him. Now, with the US and India both eyeing this list, the stakes are high. The government’s already spotting “unnatural” transactions, and both Modi and the Trump administration (back in action as of 2025) want answers. Could foreign funds have shaped India’s massive election, where over 640 million people voted? That’s what they’re out to prove—or disprove.