Elon Musk escalated his dispute with India over satellite broadband on Thursday, abandoning generalities to ask on X whether Mukesh Ambani is “the real boss of India”. A day earlier, the Starlink founder had accused unnamed “oligarchs” of keeping a “monopolistic chokehold” on the Indian people. That post named no one but was widely read as aimed at Ambani, whose Reliance Industries owns Jio, and Sunil Mittal, the founder and chairman of Bharti Airtel. The two companies serve more than 80 per cent of India’s broadband users. Musk’s latest post said Starlink was licensed in more than 165 countries and had spent five years complying with Indian requirements, and asked why it still had no licence.
The post was swiftly taken up by Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition, who is currently leading a campaign against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over the controversial Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls that critics argue has been a rushed process and allegedly gives an electoral advantage to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. Gandhi, who has long accused Narendra Modi’s government of favouring the Ambani and Adani groups, replied: “Welcome to India, Elon. Wait till you discover the other guy” – a remark seen as a reference to Gautam Adani, another Indian billionaire whose wealth has skyrocketed in the current regime. Musk thanked him, adding: “This is indeed troubling.”
The exchange has since drawn international attention.
How the row began
The controversy began with a post by DogeDesigner, an X account that follows Musk’s companies. It said that 11,256 of India's listed villages still lacked 4G coverage as of May 2026. It argued that Starlink could reach villages, mountains and islands beyond the range of fibre and mobile networks, and urged Delhi to complete the remaining clearances.
Musk replied with his “oligarchs” charge, adding “You can guess who they are.” The telecoms ministry responded that its satellite framework was fair and non-discriminatory and that the claim was “baseless and misconceived”. Its statement did not name Musk.
A pointed timing
Interestingly, Musk chose to speak of monopoly and entrenched interests just as India’s opposition is in the streets over the SIR. Gandhi was briefly detained on October 6 during a march demanding CEC Kumar's resignation. Opposition parties accuse the commission of manipulating voter registrations to benefit Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, even as the commission rejects any wrongdoing. An opposition rally is planned in Delhi for November 1, while a number of student and civil society groups have given a call to protest on October 10. Musk has not linked his remarks to the SIR protests, and nothing he has said blames Modi by name. But his charge boosts the opposition at the moment. A foreign billionaire is describing Indian markets as captured by a few, which is precisely the case Gandhi has made against the government for years. Musk has also endured long delays under Modi. Starlink began seeking Indian approval in 2021, was ordered to stop taking bookings, and did not win its satellite licence until June 2025. Even now it cannot start commercial service.
The government’s answer is that the delay is procedural. The ministry says security assessments are under way for all three licensed operators, and Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani, the communications minister of state, said the matter lay with the Home Ministry. Bloomberg reported in June that Home Ministry agencies had withheld clearances, partly over the use of Starlink terminals in the Iran war. Starlink had called that report misleading.
Starlink received a satellite licence and space-regulator authorisation in 2025. What it lacks is spectrum, security clearance and foreign-investment approval. The incumbents also lost the main spectrum fight, as the government confirmed there would be no auction, which Musk found objectionable. NWS noted that no evidence has been published that either businessman shaped the rules that weigh hardest on Starlink.
Musk’s own commercial ties also complicate his charge. Reuters noted that he, Ambani and Mittal set aside their differences in 2025 to sign deals to distribute Starlink devices in India. Reliance has not formally responded to his latest post, and Akash Ambani, a Jio director, declined to comment.
Five years of “hum do, hamare do”
Gandhi’s reply drew on his longest-running political theme. In January 2021, he charged that the farm laws were meant to help corporates such as Ambani and Adani. In February 2021, he accused the government of running the country for four people under a “hum do, hamare do (We two, our two)" formula.
After US short-seller Hindenburg Research alleged fraud at the Adani Group in January 2023, Gandhi questioned the businessman’s meteoric rise in India’’s Parliament. The Speaker expunged 18 portions of the speech. Modi asked during the 2024 election whether “tempo loads” of money had reached Congress. Congress’s Jairam Ramesh replied that Gandhi had named Adani 103 times and Ambani more than 30 since April 3 of that year.
The Adani Group has always denied wrongdoing. India’s securities regulator dismissed the Hindenburg-based manipulation allegations in 2025, and US prosecutors dropped their criminal case against Adani in 2026.
For Starlink, the immediate obstacle is a security clearance that Delhi says is routine. Musk’s public attacks are unlikely to speed it. For the opposition, they supply a ready argument at a politically charged moment.
