Modi government strangulating, emasculating ISRO: Congress

The Congress party’s general secretary for communication, Jairam Ramesh, expressed apprehensions over the government’s potential privatization of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) during a press briefing on Monday (August 24, 2026). Ramesh argued that ISRO, built up over six decades by esteemed scientists like Vikram Sarabhai, Satish Dhawan, and A.P.J.

Abdul Kalam, could see its rocket development and manufacturing capabilities severely limited if key assets were transferred to private entities. He also questioned the reported plans to hand over the second spaceport being developed at Kulasekarapattinam, Tamil Nadu, to a private company, which he likened to an attempt to "strangulate and emasculate" ISRO.

In response, Union Minister of State for Science and Technology, Jitendra Singh, staunchly defended the government’s approach, asserting that ISRO was being "scaled up," not "scaled back." Singh contended that the government was strengthening ISRO’s focus on frontier missions like Gaganyaan, Chandrayaan-4, and Bharatiya Antariksh Station, while empowering private sector companies to handle larger-scale manufacturing tasks.

He cited the growing number of Indian space startups, now exceeding 440, and highlighted the successful launch of Skyroot Aerospace’s Vikram-1, the first privately developed Indian rocket to reach orbit. Singh also emphasized that the government’s strategy aimed at creating a $44-billion space economy necessitated both ISRO’s research and industry’s manufacturing capabilities working in tandem.