Congress Accuses Modi Government of Privatizing ISRO Assets

The Indian National Congress accused the government of Narendra Modi of "strangulating and emasculating" the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) through an "aggressive privatisation agenda." Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh alleged that the Prime Minister's Office is driving a strategy to severely limit ISRO's role in rocket development and manufacturing while transferring satellite-related assets to private companies. Ramesh specifically claimed that a new ₹1,000 crore spaceport in Tamil Nadu may be handed over to a private entity and asserted that 100-120 key professionals have resigned from ISRO due to these changes.

Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh and the Bharatiya Janata Party rejected these claims, stating that the space programme is being "scaled up" rather than scaled back. Singh argued that the shift enables ISRO to concentrate on frontier missions, such as Gaganyaan, Chandrayaan-4, and the Bharatiya Antariksh Station, while private industry handles large-scale manufacturing.

Government officials cited the growth of approximately 440 space startups and private investment reaching USD 618.5 million by March 2026 as evidence of a successful transition. The government maintains that this collaboration is essential to achieving a USD 44-billion space economy. While Ramesh noted that former ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair expressed doubts about the drive, the government maintains that private participation represents the fruition of ISRO's legacy.