A little-known historical episode reveals how the political map of South Asia could have been very different. In the early 1950s, Nepal's King Tribhuvan Bir Bikram Shah reportedly proposed that Nepal be merged with India. However, India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru declined the offer, insisting that Nepal should remain an independent nation.
This account was mentioned by former President of India Pranab Mukherjee in his memoir ‘The Presidential Years’.
In the chapter titled ‘My Prime Minister: Different Styles, Different Temperaments’, Mukherjee writes that King Tribhuvan, after the end of the Rana autocracy in Nepal, suggested to Nehru that Nepal could become a province of India. Nehru, however, rejected the idea, arguing that Nepal's sovereignty must be respected.
Mukherjee also reflected that if Indira Gandhi had been in Nehru's place, she might have accepted the proposal, just as she later integrated Sikkim into India in 1975.
Nepal's Political Context at the Time
From 1846 to 1951, Nepal was ruled by the Rana dynasty, which kept the country isolated from the rest of the world. The situation changed after India's independence in 1947 and the Chinese revolution in 1949, which influenced political movements across the region.
In 1951, King Tribhuvan returned to Nepal from exile and initiated a constitutional monarchy, paving the way for democracy. It was during this transitional period that he floated the idea of merging Nepal with India. Nehru, however, maintained that Nepal should chart its own path as a free and sovereign nation.
