Elon Musk’s call on the Prime Minister made headlines not just on account his glowing personal praise for Modi — “I am a fan of Modi. It was a fantastic meeting & I like him quite a lot,” he gushed — but also for his pledges of investment in India and the promise he said India held.
“I’m incredibly excited about the future of India. India has more promise than any large country in the world. He (PM Modi) really cares about India as he’s pushing us to make significant investments in India,” Musk told a gaggle of reporters — who accosted him like he was a rock star, which he is of the tech world — before affirming his companies would soon be coming to India with significant investments.
“I can say he (PM Modi) really wants to do the right things for India. He wants to be open, he wants to be supportive of new companies and make sure it accrues to India’s advantage…” Musk added, before confirming that he will be visiting India again next year and is hopeful of bringing Starlink — amogn other investments — to India as well.
Starlink, a satellite internet system consisting of a constellation of over 4,000 mass-produced small satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO), is operated by Musk’s aerospace company SpaceX. It provides internet connectivity to the remotest areas. “I think can be incredibly helpful for remote or rural villages in India,” Musk said.
“We don’t want to jump the gun on an announcement, but it’s quite likely that there will be a significant investment and relationship in the future,” he added when asked for specifics.
The owner of social media platform Twitter also endorsed the Indian government’s stand on moderating free speech, effectively pushing back on former CEO Jack Dorsey’s claim that the BJP government had threatened to shut down the site during the farmer’s agitation if it failed to comply with government directives.
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“Twitter does not have a choice but to obey local governments. If we don’t obey local government laws, we will get shut down so the best we can do is to hew close to the law in any given country.. it is impossible for us to do more than that. We will do our best to provide free speech that is possible under the law,” Musk said, suggesting that one cannot apply America’s free speech standards to rest of the world.
Musk and Modi later exchanged greetings over Twitter, carrying the love-fest into public domain.
“It was an honor to meet again,” Musk tweeted after the one-on-one engagement at the Lotte New York Palace Hotel. “Great meeting you today @elonmusk,” Modi responded, revealing that they had “multifaceted conversations on issues ranging from energy to spirituality.”
A government press release later said prime minister Modi invited Musk to explore opportunities in India for “investments in electric mobility and rapidly expanding the commercial space sector.”Watch Tesla CEO Elon Musk meets PM Narendra Modi, says ” Incredibly excited about the future of India”
