Amid President Donald Trump's crackdown and Elon Musk's call to shut down the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), US Senator John Kennedy has claimed that the aid agency funded a transgender clinic in India.
Kennedy, a Republican, made the claim during his speech at the Capitol. "USAID gave money to support electric vehicles in Vietnam with our taxpayers' money. USAID gave money to a transgender clinic in India. I didn't know that. I bet the American people didn't know that. Musk also found that USD 1.5 million was given to Serbian LGBT organisations. They got the money to advance diversity, equity and inclusion in Serbian workplaces and business communities," Kennedy said.
"USAID spent USD 164 million to support radical organisations around the world. Of that, they gave USD 122 million to groups aligned with foreign terrorist organisations. USAID gave millions of dollars to such organisations in Gaza," he added.
Elon Musk responded with a "wow" on a post on X that highlighted the Kennedy claim on USAID.
Kennedy's claim also came days after Republican Representative Nancy Mace questioned the USD 750,000 grant by USAID to an NGO linked to actor Sonam Kapoor's brother-in-law Anant Ahuja for "alleviating loneliness among migrant workers in India". The matter came to light during a hearing on USAID funding by the US House Oversight Committee last Wednesday.
Mace said, "USAID awarded over USD 750,000 to fund alleviating loneliness among migrant garment workers in India. Does this advance America's interests, Governor?" To this, the Governor replied, "No, I have no position." "USAID is too busy playing global good Samaritan to advance American interests," Mace tweeted in her video post.
In 2020, the grant was awarded to Good Business Lab Foundation, which was co-founded by Anant Ahuja, the younger brother of actor Sonam Kapoor's husband, Anand Ahuja. According to the Good Business Lab Foundation website, 33-year-old Anant Ahuja is an organisational development leader, The India Today reported.
A press note titled 'Alleviating loneliness among migrant garment workers in India' was posted on the USAID website.
In the release, the Good Business Lab Foundation partnered with six factories owned by Shahi Exports, India's largest exporter of ready-made garments, for "building off prior pilots to conduct a randomised controlled trial (RCT) of a low-cost mental health intervention that pairs 1,000 female junior factory workers with female senior workers".
Shahi Exports is currently owned and run by Harish Ahuja, the father-in-law of Sonam Kapoor. The company was founded by his mother Sarla Ahuja in 1974.