Facebook's offer of free Internet for India's poor draws criticisms

New Delhi

THE last time Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the United States, he stood with Hugh "Wolverine" Jackman and declared, for some reason, "May the force be with you". This month, when he meets the Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg in Menlo Park, California, Indians hope their leader won't yell, "Don't be evil". But if he does end up shouting Google's motto in Facebook's headquarters, some Indians would be pleased. For that is what they wish to tell Facebook.

Mr Modi wants every Indian to get online, and Mr Zuckerberg has figured out a way to do this. But the Modi government has been under pressure from the minority of Indians who consume most of the nation's bandwidth to pass legislation that would deny free Internet access to the poor.