The United States confirms that they are donating ventilators to India for free, media reports claiming India needs to pay $2.6 million are fake

Days after the American President Donald Trump announced that the United States will be donating ventilators to India to support its fight against the menace of coronavirus, highlighting the close cooperation between the two countries to defeat the “invisible enemy”, the first tranche of 50 ventilators are being sent to India from the United States.

Contrary to the raging speculations that a cost element is attached to the donation of ventilators by the United States, the Director of the United Staes for International Development (USAID), the organisation overlooking the donation of ventilators to India, clarified that the ventilators as promised by the US President are a part of the donation and no cost is going to be charged from the recipient.

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Ramona El Hamzaoui, acting director of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), said, “this is a donation. The US government plans to donate 200 ventilators to India, and we expect the first tranche of 50 to arrive soon”.

Liberals liberally shared unfounded rumours

Shortly after US President Donald Trump promised to donate ventilators to India, some media houses reported that actually the ventilators are not being donated to India, as they will cost $2.6 million for India. Quoting unnamed officials, the reports said that “each of these mobile ventilators is estimated to cost $ 13,000 (Rs 9.6 lakh at current exchange rates) without accounting for the transportation costs. In all, the ventilators will cost about $ 2.6 million (or Rs 192 million) plus freight charges”.

Soon several left-liberal Indians, who harbour pathological hatred for PM Modi and couldn’t stand the strengthening bond between the two countries, fell over themselves to widely promulgate the unverified reports that the ventilators provided by the United States will come with an exorbitant price tag. From casting aspersions over India’s wisdom of buying ventilators from the United States to mocking the Modi-Trump personal bond, liberals of all hues used the rumours as a premise to unleash their hatred against PM Modi.

Former NDTV journalist Maya Mirchandani, who now hosts a video blog on left-wing propaganda site The Wire, posted a tweet expressing surprise over the price tag being attached to the donations given by the United States. Raising doubts over the Indian government’s economic prudence, Mirchandani wondered as to why the Centre has agreed for an exorbitant trade deal when the country is producing a large number of ventilators.

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However, Ms Mirchandani later issued a clarification saying that the consignment of ventilators from the US is a part of donation and India will not have to pay for the critical medical equipment as stated earlier.

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Habitual fake news peddler Ashok Swain, who is a glutton for perpetually having egg on his face, jumped the gun to criticise India’s ties with the United States. Quoting the Hindustan Times article which claimed that India may have to pay $2.6 million for the ventilators, Swain took a swipe at PM Modi by saying that India spent $12 million on US President’s 3-hour visit to India and yet the American President is referring to it as ‘donation’.

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The official Telangana Congress Twitter handle also actively partook in fanning rumours about the supposed trade deal between India and the United States for procuring ventilators. It criticised PM Modi for apparently not standing up to the American President Donald Trump and paying money for the donations.

https://twitter.com/INCTelangana/status/1262082548110249984?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Believing the unverified news about India made to pay for the ventilators gifted by the United States, Congress MLA Priyank Kharge took to Twitter to deride PM Modi by tweeting “there are no free lunches”.

https://twitter.com/PriyankKharge/status/1262389218850062338?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw