'It Was Odd': As Elon Musk Postpones India Visit, Congress Takes A Dig At PM Modi

New Delhi: Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who had recently announced that he would be visiting India in April, on Saturday said his trip has been postponed. Elon Musk was scheduled to visit India on April 21 and 22 and meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

On Saturday, Musk said he had to postpone the visit due to "heavy Tesla obligations."

“Unfortunately, very heavy Tesla obligations require that the visit to India be delayed, but I do very much look forward to visiting later this year,” he said. It is now expected that Musk will visit after elections.

After the announcement, Congress took a dig at PM Modi and said “he too has now read the writing on the wall”.

In a post on X, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, "It was odd that @elonmusk was coming all the way to India to meet an outgoing Prime Minister. He too has now read the writing on the wall and decided to put off his visit. INDIA’s PM will welcome him soon, and the INDIA Government will promote electric vehicles even more aggressively - I myself am a user of one!"

Musk had said last week that he was "looking forward to meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India", after which reports said he could arrive here on April 21.

"Looking forward to meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India!" The CEO had said.

PM Modi has met Elon Musk twice before -- during a Tesla plant visit in 2015 and during his state visit to the US in 2023. In a recent interview, PM Modi said Musk was a supporter of India.

"Look, the first thing saying that Elon Musk is a supporter of Modi is one thing, basically, he is a supporter of India. And I just met him. It's not like that," Modi had said.

Reacting to Musk’s proposed visit, PM Modi had said in a recent interview that he welcomed MNCs to India as they had the potential to generate jobs for locals. The PM said he had met Musk recently in the US, and before that in 2015, and added that India’s potential in electric vehicles is attracting new companies to the country.

“Our electric vehicle market is so big... In 2014-15, in our country, there were 2,000 electric vehicles. In 2023-24, 12 lakh electric vehicles have been sold... It has helped the environment and we have made policies regarding this. We have told the world that India is moving very fast on EVs. If you want to do manufacturing, you should come. Come. Not just that. I want investments to come in India because in India — doesn’t matter who has invested money — work should be done by our own people.”