India has produced two very different images in the same fortnight. In one, activists tied to the Hindu nationalist movement reportedly burn an effigy of the world’s richest man in Madhya Pradesh. In the other, New Delhi and Ottawa edge toward a trade pact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to sign in person in December. They look unrelated. They are not. Both are about who gets to set the terms of India’s economic future.
The Musk affair
Starlink has waited since 2022 for permission to sell satellite internet in India. This month Elon Musk lost patience in public. He accused unnamed “oligarchs” of protecting a monopolistic chokehold, then asked on X whether Mukesh Ambani is the real boss of India, and later addressed a mock letter to “Prime Minister Ambani.” India’s communications ministry called the allegation baseless and said its framework is fair and non-discriminatory. A junior minister said the holdup sits with the Home Ministry’s security review and is not specific to any company.
Then politics took over. Rahul Gandhi, the Opposition leader, answered Musk with “Welcome to India, Elon. Wait till you discover the other guy,” an obvious nod to his long-running charge that the government is too close to big business. Musk thanked him. Kamal Haasan and Asaduddin Owaisi, from very different corners, objected to a foreign billionaire lecturing India, and Owaisi asked why the BJP was not answering him more forcefully.
READ: Elon Musk, Rahul Gandhi spar over Ambani’s influence as Starlink faces India launch hurdles (October 9, 2026)
The Hindu nationalist movement then entered the fray. On Oct. 13, the RSS’s economic wing, the Swadeshi Jagran Manch, urged the government to block Starlink on national security grounds, and explicitly tied the demand to US tariff pressure on Indian exports. On Oct. 23, it marched in Delhi shouting “Elon Musk Bharat chhodo.” A DRM News report published today says members of the movement burned Musk’s effigy in Madhya Pradesh. I could not find a second outlet confirming it, so readers should treat the details as provisional.
Both readings deserve a fair hearing. Critics see a market where Jio and Airtel hold more than 80 percent of broadband subscribers and a government slow to admit a rival. The government and the SJM see a technology that, once the signal comes from space, is harder for a state to switch off in an emergency. Musk’s own record gives both sides material: X is suing India over takedown orders, yet also complied with orders to block thousands of accounts, and Starlink’s behavior in Ukraine is exactly what the SJM cites as a warning.
The Canada deal
The second event is quieter. Canada and India have finished five negotiating rounds on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement aimed at doubling two-way trade to about $70 billion by 2030. India’s high commissioner says he is confident a deal will be reached before Modi’s December visit. Nothing is signed yet.
It is worth remembering how far the relationship has traveled. After two years of deep strain, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government and New Delhi restored their high commissioners in August 2025 and relaunched talks that November. Ottawa has been open about why: its foreign minister described the new approach as a response to Donald Trump’s trade war, with a goal of doubling non-U.S. trade. This is less a Modi victory over a former Canadian leader than two governments concluding that overdependence on Washington is a risk.
What connects them
Trump has said nothing publicly on either, as far as I could find, and his silence is conspicuous. His tariffs are the common backdrop. They push Canada toward India, and they give Indian nationalists a reason to treat a Musk company as a bargaining chip against Washington.
The lesson is hedging. India wants American technology and capital, but on its own timetable and conditions. It wants new partners in Ottawa, and elsewhere, so that no single capital can dictate terms. That is a defensible strategy. It carries costs too: rural India could gain from another satellite provider, and a licence refused for political reasons would signal that rules bend with the news cycle.
Watch three things: whether the Home Ministry finishes its Starlink review, whether the Canada text is signed in December, and whether Washington finally speaks. Effigies burn out in minutes. Licences and trade agreements last for decades.