The Congress on Thursday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of allegedly “orchestrating” India’s two leading telecom firms “Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio’s partnerships with Starlink” saying that it is a bid to “buy goodwill with President Trump through Elon Musk”.
On his social media handle X, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said, “Within literally 12 hours both Airtel and Jio have announced partnerships with Starlink, seemingly overcoming all their objections to its entry into India – which they have been voicing for quite some time”.
It may be mentioned that Elon Musk promoted Starlink, has entered into an agreement with Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio to offer high-speed internet to their subscribers.
“It is abundantly clear that these partnerships have been orchestrated by none other than the PM himself to buy goodwill with President Trump through Starlink’s owner Mr. Elon Musk,” Jairam said.
He asked, “But many questions remain. Perhaps the most important one relates to national security. Who will have the power to switch connectivity on or off when national security demands it? Will it be Starlink or its Indian partners? Will other satellite-based connectivity providers also be permitted and on what basis.”
Ramesh said, “And, of course, the much larger question of Tesla manufacturing in India remains. Is there some commitment to it now that Starlink’s entry into India has been facilitated.”
