INS Vikrant Illuminates Diwali 2025: India’s Naval Pride in Focus
PM Modi celebrates Diwali aboard INS Vikrant, India’s first home-built aircraft carrier.
On October 20, 2025, Prime Minister Narendra Modi upheld his annual tradition of celebrating Diwali with India’s armed forces, joining Navy personnel aboard the INS Vikrant, the nation’s first indigenous aircraft carrier, off the coast of Goa and Karwar, Karnataka. Addressing the crew, Modi lauded the warship as a testament to India’s advancing naval capabilities, highlighting its role in the successful Operation Sindoor. Launched on May 7, 2025, in response to a terror attack in Pahalgam, the operation underscored Vikrant’s strategic significance, with Modi noting it “made all of Pakistan sleepless.”
Commissioned in 2022, INS Vikrant marks a historic milestone as India’s first domestically designed and constructed aircraft carrier, joining INS Vikramaditya as the Navy’s second operational carrier. Spanning 262 meters in length and 60 meters in height—equivalent to two football fields end-to-end and 18 floors tall—Vikrant is a “city on the move.” With a capacity for 30 fighter planes and helicopters, a crew of 1,600, and 2,400 compartments, it boasts advanced facilities, including a 16-bed hospital and fuel storage equivalent to 250 tankers. Its hangar, comparable to two Olympic-size swimming pools, enables robust mission readiness.
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The name “Vikrant,” meaning “courageous,” carries a storied legacy from its predecessor, a UK-acquired carrier commissioned in 1961 that played a pivotal role in the 1971 Indo-Pakistan War. Decommissioned in 1997, the original Vikrant left an indelible mark on India’s naval history. The modern INS Vikrant, fully operational as of December 2024 under the Western Naval Command, continues this tradition, capable of executing a wide range of missions, from combat operations to humanitarian assistance, as confirmed by the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Naval Command.
INS Vikrant’s development, spanning over a decade, reflects India’s growing self-reliance in defense manufacturing. As a cornerstone of the Navy’s operational strength, it enhances maritime security and projects power across the Indo-Pacific. Modi’s Diwali visit not only honored the personnel aboard but also reaffirmed the carrier’s role as a beacon of national pride and military innovation on October 20, 2025.
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