On Saturday, posts circulated by Elon Musk on X pointed to media reports that drew connections between entities backed by Reliance funding and financial contributions to BJP election efforts. Musk circulated two pieces of published reporting: a 2022 Al Jazeera article, which put forward the claim that a firm receiving Reliance funding had worked to amplify BJP campaigns on Facebook, and a 2024 Indian Express piece, which documented that Reliance-linked Qwik Supply had directed Rs 385 crore toward the BJP and Rs 25 crore toward the Shiv Sena via the electoral bonds mechanism. No statement addressing the allegations has been issued by Reliance.

Those posts appeared at a time when questions had arisen over the pace of Starlink's satellite internet rollout in India. Musk put forward the view that entrenched business interests were acting to shield monopolies from competition, and raised the question of whether Starlink would be given a fair opportunity to operate in the Indian market alongside Ambani's ventures. He also put forward satellite-based services as a means of broadening internet access in underserved communities and providing connectivity support when natural disasters strike.

Allegations of preferential treatment were pushed back on by Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, who put forward the position that monopolies have no place in any sector of the Indian economy. Scindia noted that licences had been granted to Starlink, Reliance Jio's satellite arm, and Bharti-backed Eutelsat OneWeb, though each provider would need to meet outstanding security conditions before any service could launch. He further noted that the administration holds no preference among competing technologies, leaving the decision over which services to use in the hands of consumers, and indicated that a decision on satellite spectrum pricing was drawing closer within both the Department of Telecommunications and TRAI.

Actor and Rajya Sabha member Kamal Haasan voiced opposition to SpaceX founder Elon Musk over the delays Starlink has encountered in securing regulatory approvals in India, arguing that no individual's personal wealth ought to carry weight in determining how a nation conducts its affairs. Writing on X, Haasan put forward the view that satellite networks and spectrum function as strategic infrastructure tied to national security, and that the protections India maintains around those assets are not open to compromise.

Haasan stated that openness to rivalry in satellite internet came with a clear condition: pricing should remain within reach for all users, with particular attention to households in far-flung locations, where steep subscription fees and hardware costs risk deepening the gap between connected and unconnected communities. He also put forward the view that Western nations apply free-market principles inconsistently, pointing to American tariffs placed on Chinese electric vehicles and to the restrictions both India and the United States have imposed on Huawei as illustrative cases.

Haasan drew upon figures from a CAG audit conducted in 2026, which put the share of BharatNet Gram Panchayats classified as service-ready but genuinely operational at only 33.2 per cent — a finding set against a total expenditure of Rs 39,888 crore. He also raised the point that mobile data costs in India have been kept low enough to draw tens of millions of people onto the internet. Haasan argued that India, as a self-governing democracy rather than a colonial subject, remained open to foreign capital while retaining the authority to set its own direction without yielding to outside pressure or the weight of private financial interests. India's democratic status was the basis on which he contended that its citizens retained the latitude to weigh shortcomings in the country's telecom development against the advances made there.