The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday lashed out at Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, over his response to SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk regarding Starlink operations in India. The ruling party emphasized that spectrum allocation would be handled strictly according to the law and without any discrimination.
BJP national vice president Ram Madhav stated that India was not a banana republic and noted that corporations including Jio, Airtel, and Starlink were all waiting in line for spectrum distribution. Madhav criticized Gandhi's reaction, questioning what had shifted overnight and drawing contrasts with the spectrum corruption controversies witnessed during the previous UPA administration.
Earlier in the week, Musk claimed on social media that Starlink was being blocked by local oligarchs seeking to protect a monopolistic hold over the country, prompting the Indian government to reject allegations of domestic interference. Following Musk's remarks, Gandhi responded on the platform by welcoming the entrepreneur and telling him to wait until he discovered the other figures in the system.
Madhav asserted that Musk was dealing with a respected global power with an established, fair system, and cautioned against ridiculing the nation's leadership. He added that the Government of India would make decisions at the appropriate time in a non-discriminatory manner, while expressing surprise that Gandhi had seemingly positioned himself as a champion for Musk's commercial interests.