Great Nicobar: Why India’s remotest island has become its newest political flashpoint
- Team TOI Plus
- TIMESOFINDIA.COMUpdated: Jun 10, 2026, 20:35 IST IST
Great Nicobar is home to India’s southernmost point, Indira Point, named after Indira Gandhi. She visited the island in 1984 while serving as prime minister. No prime minister has been there since.
For most Indians, it remains a distant dot on the map — nearly 1,600km from the mainland, much closer to Southeast Asia than to Delhi, and sitting at the southeastern edge of the Bay of Bengal. Larger than Singapore but home to just 8,076 people according to the 2011 Census, Great Nicobar has long been one of India’s remotest islands.
For most Indians, it remains a distant dot on the map — nearly 1,600km from the mainland, much closer to Southeast Asia than to Delhi, and sitting at the southeastern edge of the Bay of Bengal. Larger than Singapore but home to just 8,076 people according to the 2011 Census, Great Nicobar has long been one of India’s remotest islands.
