Elon Musk has a habit of dropping cryptic emojis and letting the internet do the rest. On October 2, one such gesture — a “🤔” in reply to a post claiming that “there is no such thing as colonisation” — set off a storm in India. The post argued that if Indians in England became English, then Englishmen in India became Indian, and therefore the British never actually ruled India. For many Indians, Musk’s response was not innocent curiosity but amplification of a dangerous distortion. To understand the backlash, you have to understand not just the history of colonial rule, but also how those memories are kept alive in public consciousness.
The flawed logic behind “no colonisation”
The argument Musk responded to presents colonisation as mere migration, erasing the defining feature of empire — power. Immigration implies integration into an existing order. Colonisation is the replacement of that order with one imposed by force. In India, British officials didn’t “become Indian.” They governed India as an extension of Britain: laws drafted in Westminster, taxes funnelled to London, and decisions made in the interests of an empire thousands of miles away. For most Indians, the distinction is not semantic but lived — a history of extraction, subjugation, and humiliation.
Why the outrage in India was so sharp
The emoji landed in a context where colonialism isn’t a distant memory but an intergenerational scar. Indians see the British Raj not as benign governance but as a system that:
- Stripped sovereignty: From 1757 onwards, first the East India Company and then the British Crown reduced Indian rulers to puppets, stripping political control.
- Drained wealth: India’s share of global GDP plummeted, industries like textiles were systematically dismantled, and raw materials were redirected to British factories.
- Engineered famine and misery: Millions died in famines worsened by revenue-first policies, while food exports to Britain continued.
- Imposed racial hierarchy: The British built enclaves, ran segregated institutions, and treated Indians as subjects rather than citizens.
For critics, the idea that the British “became Indian” is not just wrong — it’s offensive. It rewrites centuries of suffering into a narrative of cultural blending.
Outrage online: not just anger, but context
The backlash Musk faced was not simply a matter of patriotic pride. Indians online framed their anger in ways that directly connected colonialism’s legacy to the present:
- On governance: Many pointed out that while Indians abroad integrate into their host societies, British rulers in India made no such attempt. They legislated from afar, ensuring Indians remained voiceless in their own land.
- On economics: Commenters linked the argument to the “drain of wealth,” reminding Musk that India’s impoverishment was a direct product of British extraction, not voluntary exchange.
- On morality: Several drew contrasts between immigrants today and colonisers then — one enters with consent, the other imposes through conquest. Equating the two, they argued, is an insult to history.
- On accountability: Some went further, questioning why India should embrace Musk’s ventures like Tesla and Starlink if he appeared dismissive of colonial crimes. The anger wasn’t only historical — it was also about leverage in the present.
What united these reactions was a rejection of the casualness with which empire was reframed. The emoji, in that sense, symbolised more than Musk’s ambiguity — it became shorthand for indifference to historical injustice.
The larger picture
This controversy reveals three larger truths.
- Colonial memory is political currency. For Indians, empire isn’t just history. It shapes debates on restitution, reparations, and global respect.
- Global figures can’t be neutral amplifiers. Musk’s immense platform means even a single emoji carries interpretive weight. What he finds amusing or thought-provoking, others experience as endorsement.
- Reframing empire remains fraught. Attempts to sanitise colonialism — whether as trade, cultural exchange, or migration — clash directly with memories of violence, famine, and lost sovereignty.
The irony is that Musk’s emoji said nothing — yet it spoke volumes. In the digital age, silence, ambiguity, and provocation are all part of influence. But in the Indian context, where empire is not a theory but a lived inheritance, even a “🤔” can reopen centuries-old wounds.
