Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Friday, June 5, 2026, directly addressed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on X, demanding the immediate expansion of INS Baaz, India's southernmost naval air station located at Campbell Bay, Great Nicobar Island, alleging the Navy's requests have gone unheeded for five years.

Context

In his post, Gandhi wrote — 'INS Baaz, UPA sarkar mein sthaapit kiya gaya nausainik adda, pichhle paanch saal se vistaar ki maang kar raha hai. Magar, sarkar ne nausena ki baat ansuni kar di.' — ('INS Baaz, the naval base established under the UPA government, has been demanding expansion for the past five years. But the government has turned a deaf ear to the Navy.')

Gandhi then issued a direct challenge: 'If you connect the Great Nicobar Project to the country's security, then expand INS Baaz today. I am fully...' — the post appears to have been cut off, but the thrust of the message is unambiguous: he is offering cross-party support for the expansion.

Policy Backdrop

INS Baaz was commissioned on 31 July 2012 under the UPA-II government as a forward operating air station to extend India's surveillance reach into the eastern Indian Ocean. It remains India's southernmost military facility and sits at a strategically critical position near the Six Degree Channel, a key maritime chokepoint.

The Andaman and Nicobar Command, India's only tri-service theatre command, is headquartered at Port Blair and oversees operations across the archipelago. Successive governments have incrementally upgraded military infrastructure in the island chain to secure vital sea lanes of communication amid growing regional maritime competition.

The Great Nicobar Project is a large-scale infrastructure initiative that includes a transshipment port, an international airport, a township, and a power plant. Officials have described it as having significant dual-use strategic potential, making the proximity of INS Baaz directly relevant to its security architecture.

Stakeholders and Impact

The Indian Navy is the primary stakeholder, having reportedly sought infrastructure upgrades at forward bases in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to match the pace of the broader Great Nicobar development. Any expansion of INS Baaz would enhance India's maritime domain awareness and power-projection capability in the eastern Indian Ocean Region.

Gandhi's intervention is notable because it frames the demand as a national security imperative rather than a partisan one, signalling a rare offer of Opposition support if the government acts. The statement puts the Ministry of Defence on the spot to clarify its position on naval infrastructure timelines in the archipelago.

What's Next

Attention will now turn to whether the Defence Ministry responds formally — either through a parliamentary statement during the upcoming monsoon session or through a clarification on the capital budget allocation for Andaman and Nicobar defence infrastructure. Any revised project sanction or budgetary announcement for INS Baaz expansion in the forthcoming defence capital budget would be closely watched by strategic analysts tracking India's Indo-Pacific posture.

With the Great Nicobar Project already drawing scrutiny on environmental and strategic grounds, Gandhi's post adds a new political dimension: the Opposition is now on record demanding faster military investment in the very region the government has prioritised for development, creating pressure on both sides to demonstrate strategic seriousness.