In 1949, India was called upon to decide whether it would continue as a member of the Commonwealth.

A constitution rendering India as a sovereign country was about to be considered by the Constituent Assembly, which would advance the nation from the dominion status it acquired on 15 August 1947. In effect, the question of having the British monarch as head of state after India became independent was repugnant to a republic.

On 8 March 1949, Jawaharlal Nehru gave an indication on the matter to the assembly when he said: ‘India…in the course of a few months will become an independent republic. In no way in our external, internal, political or economic policy do we propose to accept anything which involves the slightest degree of dependence on any other authority. Subject to that we are prepared to associate ourselves with other countries…we have been associated with the Commonwealth…in a way which was entirely unsatisfactory and we all fought to get out of it…now it is only in terms of independent nations co-operating together that we can consider the problem of our association with the Commonwealth.”