The Indo-Pacific has emerged as the defining strategic arena of the 21st Century. Stretching from the Eastern Coast of Africa to the Pacific Islands, it is home to the most dynamic economies, critical sea lanes and rising geopolitical contestation. For India, with its civilisational heritage and long coastline, this region is central to both security and prosperity.
Booming Economy
The global balance of power is shifting Eastwards, and the Indo Pacific already accounts for around sixty per cent of global GDP. Three of the world’s five largest economies are in Asia, and their growth has brought with it an insatiable appetite for energy. Lacking self-sufficiency, these nations depend on imports from Russia, West Asia, and Africa, with the Indian Ocean sea lanes carrying most of this cargo. Over eighty per cent of the world trade by volume moves by sea, and a majority of it flows through Indo Pacific waters. At the same time, more than 95 per cent of international data traffic, the lifeblood of today’s digital economy, moves through undersea cables laid in this region. Any disruption of these arteries, whether energy routes or digital cables, would endanger global security and prosperity.
Bharat to Decide the Future
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has positioned India to play a decisive role in shaping the future of this region. India’s vision of a free, open, and inclusive Indo-Pacific, where sovereignty is respected and coercion has no place, has been welcomed by partners and smaller nations alike. Initiatives such as the launch of the Forum for India Pacific Islands Cooperation in 2014 have deepened India’s engagement with Pacific Island States. India has built strong strategic linkages with ASEAN nations, joined hands with like-minded powers in the Quad, and taken concrete steps to expand its maritime presence. Nowhere is this clearer than in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which serve as the fulcrum of India’s eastern maritime strategy.
The Andaman and Nicobar Command, India’s only operational tri-service command, is uniquely placed to monitor the critical waterways of the Bay of Bengal and beyond. Within this chain, the bases at Car Nicobar and Great Nicobar are of extraordinary importance. Car Nicobar hosts an Indian Air Force facility that provides dominance over the skies of the Bay of Bengal and surveillance of maritime activity. From this forward base, fighter aircraft, transport planes, and helicopters can be deployed quickly for maritime strike missions, anti-submarine operations, or disaster relief. The base also supports joint exercises such as Malabar with the United States, Japan, and Australia, enhancing interoperability and reinforcing India’s Act East policy. Its location just under a thousand kilometres from the Malacca Strait allows India to monitor and, if required, influence the flow of global trade and energy passing through the Six and Ten Degree Channels.
Even more strategically located is INS Baaz, India’s southernmost naval air station, at Campbell Bay in Great Nicobar. Commissioned in 2012 but significantly upgraded and integrated into broader development plans under Prime Minister Modi, it sits only around 450 kilometres from the Malacca Strait. This is one of the world’s most vital maritime chokepoints, handling 60 per cent of China’s trade and nearly 90 per cent of Japan and South Korea’s oil imports. For India itself, it is a crucial artery for energy and commerce. The ability to monitor, secure, and if necessary, influence access to this strait is of immense strategic value. INS Baaz supports maritime reconnaissance, anti-submarine warfare, and surveillance operations, and is being expanded under the Government’s Rs 72,000 crore Great Nicobar project that also envisions a transhipment port and an international airport. This integration of security and economic infrastructure strengthens both India’s maritime logistics and its strategic posture.
Malacca Strait Is Important From Security Perspective
Control and influence over the approaches to the Malacca Strait gives India both security and leverage. It guarantees the safety of India’s own sea lines of communication and protects its growing digital and energy requirements. With Car Nicobar and INS Baaz acting as forward outposts, India possesses the capability to track submarine movements, deter hostile actions, and work with partners to ensure a free and open Indo Pacific. These facilities, when integrated with India’s wider SAGAR doctrine, make India a credible net security provider in the region.
This expansion of maritime infrastructure and capability is emblematic of Prime Minister Modi’s broader approach. Whether it is the rapid development of indigenous defence and space systems, the launch of AtmaNirbhar initiatives across sectors, or the successful creation of indigenous vaccines during the pandemic, the emphasis has been on self-reliance in critical sectors. Security is no longer seen as a narrow military function but as a comprehensive project that includes infrastructure, industry, technology, and human capital. The Nicobar bases are thus not isolated military installations; they are part of a holistic effort to ensure India has the means to shape, not merely react to, developments in the Indo-Pacific.
Sonia’s Anti-National Criticism
It is in this context that the recent article by Smt. Sonia Gandhi in The Hindu on September 8, criticising the Nicobar projects as a misadventure, trampling rights and undermining legal processes, rings hollow. While concerns about environment and indigenous rights must always be considered with sensitivity, portraying strategic projects of such national importance as reckless is misleading. These are not impulsive ventures but carefully planned investments in India’s long term security and economic future. Her argument deliberately overlooked the historical role of Congress governments themselves in strengthening India’s presence in the Nicobar Islands. It was under the UPA Government when Smt. Sonia Gandhi herself was the UPA Chairperson that INS Baaz was commissioned in 2012. The Air Force presence in Car Nicobar was first established in 1956, and subsequently upgraded during Congress led governments in 1986 and 1993. Dismissing the Modi Government’s efforts at strengthening these projects as reckless is disingenuous. The present Government is taking forward a vision with fortitude that many earlier non NDA governments themselves recognised as essential for India’s vital strategic interests.
Irresponsible Opposition
Unfortunately, this has become a recurring pattern with Rahul Gandhi led Congress and sections of the opposition. Whether it is the construction of strategic infrastructure, the pursuit of defence and space self-reliance, or the creation of indigenous vaccines during the pandemic, the opposition has often resorted to trivial reasoning to attempt and obstruct critical projects.
The Indo-Pacific is the fulcrum of the 21st Century world order. For India, it is both the primary source of economic opportunity and the frontline of security challenges. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s proactive policies, from the launch of FIPIC to the strengthening of Car Nicobar and Great Nicobar bases reflect India’s determination to shape the regional balance in favour of openness, security, growth and freedom of navigation. The Malacca Strait remains a vital artery, and India’s bases give it unmatched leverage in this theatre.
PM Modi led NDA Government’s investments in Car Nicobar and Great Nicobar, spanning military infrastructure, logistics hubs, and connectivity projects, are about securing the arteries of energy, commerce, and data that sustain modern life. These initiatives could ensure that India is no longer a peripheral player but a central actor capable of shaping the Indo-Pacific balance. The Nicobar projects are anchors of India’s strategic calculus, firm commitments that guarantee security, project strength, and uphold the principle of a free and open Indo-Pacific.
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