Tesla’s Musk snubs India with ‘shock’ China visit. But was it ‘shoddy ethics or simply business?’
- Musk was to meet India PM Modi last week and announce an investment of up to US$3 billion in a car plant, but cancelled, due to ‘very heavy Tesla obligations’
- On Sunday, Musk turned up in Beijing, meeting with Premier Li Qiang and making progress towards rolling out an advanced driver assistance package in China
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Indian news channels that often take a hard line position against China blasted Musk’s trip.
The Mirror Now news channel ran a prime time news segment with a tagline “Shoddy ethics or simply business?” with the anchor saying “Here in India, everybody was shocked.”
Digital news service News9 ran a segment late on Monday on Musk, saying “Hello China, Goodbye India?” It then flashed on the screen, “VERY HEAVY TESLA OBLIGATIONS? China visit a week after cancelling India”.
Neither Tesla nor Modi’s office responded to requests for comment. Musk said on April 20 he looks forward to visiting India later this year, but the Indian government has not commented on his trip cancellation or China visit.
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Modi’s opponents seized on Musk’s China visit to criticise the prime minister.
“Do you think Modi will forgive Musk from his heart?” Banerjee said in a video that has clocked 268,000 views in 19 hours.