India needs level playing field for businesses to compete: Rahul Gandhi

The remark came a day after his exchange on X with US business tycoon Elon Musk, who had asked whether Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani is the

India needs a level playing field where every business has a fair chance to compete, and the Congress is committed to breaking the chain of crony capitalism, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi said on Friday.

The remark came a day after his exchange on X with US business tycoon Elon Musk, who had asked whether Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani is the "real boss" of India amid a controversy over Starlink satellite internet services.

"Congress party and I are committed to breaking this chain of crony capitalism and building an economy driven by innovation and hard work -- not political patronage," Gandhi said.

"I am not anti-business; I am anti-monopoly," Gandhi says in the video.

The allegations that Starlink's satellite internet services were being blocked by domestic business interests -- leading Musk to ask if "Ambani is the real boss of India" -- have been rejected by the Indian government.

Musk earlier wrote on X, "Starlink is licensed in over 165 countries and has spent five years complying with every single law and requirement of the government of India, so why still no license?" "Is Ambani the real boss of India?" he further asked.

Responding to the X post, Gandhi said, "Welcome to India, Elon. Wait till you discover the other guy." The business tycoon thanked the leader of opposition for his response and said, "This is indeed troubling." The government, earlier on Thursday, slammed the US business tycoon over his allegations that Starlink's satcom services are being blocked and made it clear that demonstrating compliance with security norms is an absolute must for every satcom licensee in the country.

The government has licensed three companies -- Musk's Starlink, Reliance Jio's satellite venture Jio Satcom and Bharti-backed Eutelsat OneWeb -- but none can begin commercial services until required security assessments and spectrum-related approvals are completed.