In or Out? IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw Deletes Post Welcoming Elon Musk's Starlink, Reactions Pour In

After signing major deals with Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, Elon Musk-led Starlink has made it back on the news. This new development has brought SpaceX's satellite internet company's India entry much closer than ever.

IT Min Deletes 'Welcome Post'

The announcement of the deal was made by both Jio and Airtel. This deal to provide high-speed, low-latency satellite-based internet, a first in India, is subject to regulatory acceptance.

In this, another development came to pass, when the minister responsible for the segment, IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, took to X, a platform owned by Elon Musk himself to 'Welcome' Musk and his company Starlink.

With an image representing Starlink, Vaishnaw said, Starlink, Welcome To India!

However, Vaishnaw soon deleted the post. Some netizens on the app were quick enough to take a screenshot of the post, just in the nick of time.

The post can no longer be seen on the minister's profile.

Saket Gokhale Reacts

West Bengal-based TMC's Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale was one of the X users to react to this.

Reacting to the deletion, Saket Gokhale said, " 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐮𝐭! India’s IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw tweeted saying “Starlink, welcome to India” & then DELETED his tweet."

No Approval Yet

Gokhale further said that Elon Musk’s Starlink has not yet gotten govt approval. It also has not been allotted any satellite spectrum.

"But the tweet by @AshwiniVaishnaw CLEARLY shows that spineless PM Modi is going to bend over backwards for Trump & Elon Musk. The “govt approval” is clearly guaranteed.", the MP added.

He even accused the government of having vested interest, and enquired of the government, How much is the BJP getting from Elon Musk? What is Modi getting in return for meekly selling out our country to the US establishment? Help with elections?"

Others React To Deletion

Gokhale was not alone, as other leader from opposition joined in, questioning the deletion of the post.

Congress spokesperson Shama Mohamed reacted, and said, "Why did IT Minister @AshwiniVaishnaw delete his tweet welcoming Starlink? BJP falsely accused UPA of corruption when there was none, but now they have bypassed auctions and distributed spectrum administratively. They are bending over for Elon Musk and Trump, risking national security and creating a monopoly in India."

An X user said, "Ashwini Vaishnav just pulled a midnight vanishing act on his announcement—experts were up in arms at 11:00 pm, only to find the rug pulled out from under them. Starlink or no Starlink, Vaishnav's got the tech world spinning. And all those fiery tech threads by experts? Now just pointless, like tears in the rain. 😂 DID THE MINISTER TROLL ALL THE TECH BROS ??"