In the heart of the Bay of Bengal, close to one of the busiest maritime chokepoints in the world, lies the promise of a project that could alter Bharat’s strategic and economic landscape. The Great Nicobar development plan is not an indulgence but a necessity, born of strategic geography, national interest, and the imperatives of a rising power.
For too long, Bharat’s trade has sailed under the shadow of others, with our containers routed through Colombo, Singapore, or Port Klang before finding their destination. Each such detour has carried the hidden taxes of lost time, inflated costs, and diminished autonomy. A deep-water port at Great Nicobar, with its rare natural draft exceeding twenty metres, will end this dependency. Alongside a new airport, township, and power project, it will create a seamless logistics hub that places Bharat at the centre of Indo-Pacific commerce.
Great Nicobar is not simply valuable, it is indispensable. Barely forty nautical miles away flows the Malacca Strait, through which one third of global trade passes. Whoever commands a presence here does not merely watch the sea lanes, they shape the balance of power in the region. By developing this island, Bharat is not courting confrontation but building assurance that our ships will sail safely, our trade will remain secure, and our forces will stand ready for humanitarian relief when the oceans turn violent.
Some critics suggest this effort tramples on law. The truth is the opposite. Every statutory requirement has been crossed, from environmental clearances to social impact assessments, and the project now carries forty-two binding conditions to protect ecology and local community. The spirit is not one of unchecked expansion but of disciplined development, where progress and preservation move together.
The economic returns of this project will be far-reaching. Tens of thousands of jobs will arise directly in construction, logistics, and port operations, while many more will emerge in allied fields like warehousing, shipping, tourism, and green fuel. For the Nicobar tribes, this is not a sentence of exile but a pathway into opportunity, opening doors to healthcare, education, and livelihoods that remoteness has long denied. It is a pledge of inclusion rather than exclusion, of dignity secured through development.
History has shown us the price of taking the sea lightly. In a moment of astonishing misjudgement, a strategically vital island was once handed away to another nation by India’s first Prime Minister. That single decision shrank our maritime reach and eroded our influence across Asian waters. What remained of the Andaman and Nicobar chain was left to languish, dismissed as a far-flung outpost rather than nurtured as a frontline asset. That legacy of neglect must serve as a warning today.
Today, as we move to strengthen an island that is unquestionably ours, the old habit of the past resurfaces. The party that once gifted away strategic territory and neglected the seas now questions every effort to secure them. Quick to object, eager to delay, and unwilling to recognise the imperatives of national security, it repeats the same errors that once left India dependent on others. This time, Bharat cannot afford hesitation; it must choose resolve, for only resolve will secure our future.
The Great Nicobar project is no gamble. It is an investment in security, in resilience, in livelihoods, and in national confidence. Those who disguise obstruction as conscience forget that the highest duty of conscience is to safeguard the nation’s future. Great Nicobar will be remembered as the moment Bharat planted its flag in the Indo-Pacific and declared that its destiny will never again be bartered away.