Eccentricity is integral to superlative knowledge, obscene wealth, bloated ego and high chootiyapa (moron-ness) quotient. Well, almost always. He is a man who possesses all these. He is Elon Musk. Here is a brief information-pack on the man and his ways which explains as to why is he what he is.
He is 55 years old. Was born in the times of apartheid in South Africa. Became a citizen of the USA two and a half decades back. Has been married and divorced twice. A man of highly elevated libido, he has reportedly fathered 14 children. To what end? He wanted to create a “legion of children before the civil war” per one of his ex-wives. With this revelation, one can better connect his hyperactivity in the private spaces to his hyperactive conduct in public. He runs some very successful businesses like X, Tesla, SpaceX, Starlink etc. The wealthiest person in the world, he reportedly contributed equivalent of whopping Rs. 2,600 crores to the election campaign of another God’s-gift-to-the-mankind (read Donald Trump) two years back. He has often been accused of sexual harassment and consumption of drugs which he, of course, denies. Transitioning from a technology-entrepreneur to a techmoney-enabled-bully, he uses his social media platform (X) as a political tool to further his agenda without any qualms. He can be often seen obscenely shaking his posterior in an act dubbed as dance. More often in the company of or events associated with the Fanta-Orange (Donald Trump, once again). Trust me the Launda-Naach (लौंडा-नाच / boy-dance) of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar comes across way too classical as compared to this man gyrating his hips. His ex-girlfriend, Ashley St. Clair, adds to his credentials “….. his most complicated relationship is with the truth”. Believing that the corporate-power can sideline nation’s sovereignty; he is often found disrespecting institutions and governments. A spoilt brat, he wants it all. Any which way. He is a dangerous man.
Musk is pissed off with India. Why? India refuses to treat him like the royalty that he day-dreams he is. To add salt to his wounds, India has the gumption to treat him at par with home-grown competitors. So, what does he do? He frets. He fumes. Desperate, he posts on X a few juvenile remarks. He insinuates that his entry in the satellite-internet space is being blocked by the Indian government at the behest of Mukesh Ambani of Reliance. He is supported, not very surprisingly, by a Musk-eteer (who also doubles up as a Trump-eteer) called Rahul Gandhi. Musk believes, quixotically though, that he can ride roughshod a country like India by casting aspersions on its system and processes and still expect a welcome he thinks he is entitled to.
India is the second largest telecom market in the world, after China. It currently logs a gross revenue of about USD 43 billion which is expected to grow to about USD 72 billion in the next few years. About 1.3 billion telephone subscribers in India include about 1.1 billion who access internet also. It is held that the traditional wired or cellular networks have many operational and financial challenges in reaching out to remote and difficult geographies. Ergo, satellite-internet. What is satellite-internet ? It’s a technology that uses satellites in the space to bring internet to users on the ground. Why satellite-internet ? It can provide internet coverage almost everywhere without requiring much of physical infrastructure. It is also credited with enhanced security through stronger encryption, quicker scalability and higher speed. Acknowledging its merits, over four years back the government licensed three applicants, namely Jio Satcom (Reliance), Eutelsat OneWeb (Airtel) and Starlink (Elon Musk), to provide satellite-based broadband services. The commercial roll-out is yet to happen as the licenses are conditional, subject to security / regulatory compliances. The post-licensing delay and the apprehensions as regards the complexion of the security requirements is what has thrown Musk off his rocker.
Though Musk is ably supported by some naaraz-phoophas (Rahul Gandhi et al.) in his diatribes against the Indian government and Indian businesspersons, it will be a mistake of epic proportions to allow Starlink / Musk into India. Here is why.
- None of the three licensees have yet been given security / regulatory clearances. One wonders as to what prompts Musk to think that he is the first among equals. Does he actually believe that shouting profanities from the roof-top will secure him all clearances without any scrutiny? Or is he leveraging his connections with the ruling dispensation in the USA to arm twist India? This poses a serious question. Can India afford to engage an entity with unabashed political affiliations? A scenario that may be doable today but may jeopardize India’s interests once the political pendulum shifts side.
- Musk is susceptible to pressures from the USA big time. Look what he did in Ukraine. And in Iran. In Ukraine, he used Starshield (from the stable of Starlink) to render the performance of their drones sub-optimal in the midst of an ongoing conflict with Russia. Similarly, he made Iranian government totally helpless by making connectivity within its own borders out of their control. These two instances underline the fact that a foreign-owned satellite-internet operator can turn an adversary in times of crises. Given this reality, how can India expect Musk to ensure dispassionate and uninterrupted supply of services, especially during India’s conflicts with the unfriendly nations / entities?
- Musk is highly volatile. His unrefined behaviour in public and his questionable professional conduct speak volumes of his unstable mental faculties. No man in his senses would ever publicly spew the bile as he did through his recent posts on India on X. For all we know, after getting up on the wrong side of the bed one day or after his 69th girlfriend’s refusal to rimming him one night, he may decide to slow down the speed of satellite-internet. Or he may simply kill the switch whilst India is in the middle of a live operation. What gives India the confidence that he wouldn’t indulge in such juvenility?
- Making a case for Starlink with its presence in 172 markets and 10,722 satellites already in orbit, Musk wants to intimidate India with its technological prowess. This cognitively-impaired person doesn’t understand that it’s not a technology vs. security debate in India. The technology is important but equally important are the security implications of involving a foreign operator. If its security credentials discomfort India, Starlink should be thrown out as ruthlessly as Huawei. Remember Huawei of China was barred six years back from participating in telecom projects in India after it was found not a trusted-vendor from the security point of view.
- Starlink is a foreign-controlled entity (unlike Reliance and Airtel) which will provide the services through a constellation of satellites out there in the space. India has no control over the space where these satellites orbit. No Indian law shall apply to Starlink and most its shenanigans shall be outside the jurisdiction of Indian courts. How, therefore, would India hold Starlink accountable for its acts of omission and commission?
- Satellite-internet is a serious proposition. It assumes utmost importance in certain critical areas like military communication, navigation, surveillance and drone operations. Against the backdrop of frequent, serious interferences by the American Deep-state in India’s affairs, aided by a host of unfriendly countries / organizations, can anyone vouch for the integrity of Starlink’s services to India?
If this overindulged, overhyped joker from the USA is allowed entry in the satellite-internet space in India, we should bring out all our protestors from the closet. Especially the Cockroaches and, if possible, the desultory Congress workers. We should urge them to Jantar-Mantar-ize every nook and corner of our country. As regards steady supply of mutton-rolls (from Khan-chacha) and chole-bhature (from Sita-Ram-Diwan-Chand) to the protestors in every city, the same shall be ensured by the citizenry. At the end of the day, we all want Jantar-Mantar-ization to succeed. Don’t we? All related expenses shall be crowd-funded. No foreign funds.