In a sensational disclosure, late President Pranab Mukherjee says in his much-talked-about autobiography - ‘The Presidential Years’, has revealed how former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru committed a major blunder by rejecting Nepal’s King Tribhuvan Bir Bikram Shah’s offer that the Himalayan nation is made a province of India. According to the reports, in the chapter titled, ‘My Prime Ministers: Different Styles, Different Temperaments’, Mukherjee wrote that Nehru dealt with Nepal very diplomatically. He noted that after the Rana rule was replaced by the monarchy in Nepal, he wished for democracy to take root.
Mukherjee in his autobiography added, “Interestingly, Nepal’s king had suggested to Nehru that Nepal be made a province of India. But Nehru rejected the offer on the grounds that Nepal was an independent nation and must remain so.” In the yet-to-be-published book, Mukherjee writes that “had Indira Gandhi been in Nehru’s place, she would have perhaps seized upon the opportunity, like she did with Sikkim”. Sikkim was a kingdom which became part of India in 1975. On April 9, 1975, the Sikkim Parliament announced that the king was deposed. Through a referendum, Sikkim became part of India. On May 16, 1975, the Indian parliament announced that Sikkim officially became a state of India.
Expressing his views on the Former Prime Ministers and Presidents of India, Mukherjee reportedly writes, “Every PM has his or her own style of functioning. Lal Bahadur Shastri took positions that were very different from that of Nehru. There can be divergent perceptions among PMs, even if they happen to come from the same party, on issues such as foreign policy, security and internal administration.” The memoir by Mukherjee has yet again ignited a debate regarding the cost India has been paying due to the strategic blunders that were committed during the Nehruvian era. Nehru during his tenure, not only made blunders by gifting territories to Pakistan and China but also responsible for India ceding territories with much crucial strategic significance. The indecisions of Nehru has cost the country much more than just vast swathes of Jammu Kashmir, Ladakh, Coco Islands and many other strategic locations along the border including Tibet and Nepal.
