“What Elon Musk said, reveals a lot about India, PM Modi”: Union Minister Anurag Thakur

Union Minister for Sports and Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur on Wednesday said that Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s praise for PM Narendra Modi and India’s business potential reveals a lot about the country’s leadership and about PM Modi himself.

“What Elon Musk said, reveals a lot about India’s leadership and PM. Big personalities across the world are also praising PM Modi now,” Thakur said. “PM Modi’s US visit has just begun, and a lot of things are going to take place…it is going to be a historic moment,” he added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on a historic state visit to the United States where he met Elon Musk.

After meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the US, Elon Musk, said, “I’m incredibly excited about the future of India. India has more promise than any large country in the world.”

Speaking on PM Modi’s leadership role in making technology inclusive so that digital infrastructure can be created, Musk said, “I can say he (Modi) really wants to do the right things for India. He wants to be open, supportive of new companies and at the same time ensures that it accrues to India’s advantage which is..which is obviously that’s the job I’m saying. I am a fan of Modi.”

Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk on Tuesday said that he is planning to visit India next year adding that he is confident that the electric carmaker will be in India and will do so “as soon as humanly possible.”

“India has potential for all three pillars of a sustainable energy future, the three pillars being sustainable energy generation through solar and wind primarily, the amount of area you actually need to generate electricity…it is very doable…,” Musk said.

“We are also looking to bring Starlink to India which could be incredibly helpful for rural areas,” he said. “The Starlink Internet, which I think can be incredibly helpful for sort of remote or rural villages where they perhaps either may have no access to the Internet or the Internet is very expensive and slow,” Musk said.

The Tesla CEO, who also owns Twitter said that the social media giant does not have a choice but to obey local governments or else it will get shut down. He made the above remarks in response to the company’s former owner and CEO Jack Dorsey’s recent allegation against the Government of India.

“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 work 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 told the reporters.

His comments to reporters were made outside the Lotte New York Palace, following a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who arrived on a historic four-day State visit to the US on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, PM Modi tweeted after his meeting with Musk, “Great meeting you today @elonmusk! We had multifaceted conversations on issues ranging from energy to spirituality.” The Prime Minister had previously met with Musk in 2015 during a visit to Tesla Motors factory in Freemont, California.