Imagine building something groundbreaking, traveling across the country, paying big money to showcase it at India’s flagship AI event—only to be told to leave everything behind because the prime minister needs the hall empty for six hours to shoot a social media reel. Six hours. Not a quick walkthrough, not a speech—a reel.
When the engineers were finally allowed back in, their prototypes, their life’s work, were gone. Stolen. This wasn’t an AI summit; it was a staged photo-op that treated India’s brightest innovators like props, then left them vulnerable to thieves. If this is the “impact” we’re selling to the world, it’s no wonder people are calling it Make in india 2.0—same grand promises, same crushing disappointment.
- The entire venue was vacated for one reason:
Modi needed a clean backdrop for a reel. Not policy discussions, not investor meetings, not even a proper address—just a short, shiny social media clip. Innovators who paid to be there were suddenly inconveniences to be removed. - Six full hours of chaos. Engineers were assured their stalls and products were “safe” under security watch. They stepped out trusting the system. That trust was betrayed the moment the doors closed behind them.
- When they finally returned, the damage was done. Prototypes vanished, expensive gear looted. These weren’t cheap displays—these were the future of indian AI, built by people who believed this summit actually mattered.
- Security told them to leave everything behind. No exceptions, no arrangements, no accountability. The same officials who cleared the hall for a reel couldn’t protect the very innovations the event was meant to celebrate.
- This isn’t a one-off glitch—it’s a pattern. Grand events, big announcements, zero follow-through on the basics: safety, respect, actual support for creators. Make in india 2.0 in a nutshell—lots of optics, zero delivery.
- Bottom line: a nation claiming to be an AI superpower can’t even keep its own innovators’ work safe for six hours while the leader films a video. That’s not leadership. That’s vanity dressed up as vision—and India’s real talent is paying the price.
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