The matter is of December 1988. Rajiv Gandhi was the Prime Minister.
He was on a tour to neighboring country Nepal. This was his second visit to Nepal within a year. Earlier he had gone to Kathmandu in November 1987 to attend the SAARC Summit.
This time his wife Sonia Gandhi was also with him. He wanted to worship with his wife at the world famous Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu.
At that time Nepal was the only country in the world with a Hindu monarchy. Birendra Bir Bikram was the king of Nepal. He had a very good friendship with Rajiv Gandhi.
During the conversation in the palace, Rajiv Gandhi had expressed his wish to Bir Bikram that he wanted to visit Pashupatinath temple with his family.
He was seeking assurance from the King of Nepal regarding the safe entry of Sonia Gandhi into the temple. This is because the temple management had told the Indian Embassy that Rajiv Gandhi was welcome, but Sonia Gandhi would not be allowed to enter the temple because she is not a Hindu.
Like Tirupati Balaji Temple in Andhra Pradesh and Jagannath Temple in Puri, there is a ban on entry of non-Hindus in Pashupatinath Temple.
Rajiv Gandhi came to know about this, hence he raised this question before the King of Nepal but King Bir Bikram Singh could not help the Prime Minister of India.
King Birendra expressed his inability to give any orders to the priests. The priest was also adamant on not allowing Sonia Gandhi to enter the temple.
In fact, it is said that Aishwarya, wife of Bir Bikram Singh and the then Queen of Nepal, had a lot of interference in the trust matters of Pashupatinath Temple and she did not want Sonia Gandhi, of Christian origin, to step into the Pashupatinath Temple.
He had also taken a strong stance on this matter. Rajiv Gandhi took this incident as a personal insult and returned from the Pashupatinath temple without offering darshan and worship.
This visit of Rajiv Gandhi was considered very important for bringing India-Nepal relations back on track but exactly the opposite happened.
Rajiv Gandhi was stunned by his insult. It is said that even Sonia Gandhi could never forget this insult. Shortly after this, India imposed a blockade on Nepal.
It is believed that the reason behind Rajiv Gandhi’s decision to impose blockade on Nepal was the issue of not allowing Sonia Gandhi to enter the temple.
However, analysts say that the real reasons behind the blockade were two-fold. One was Nepal’s purchase of anti-aircraft guns and other weapons from China and the other was Rajiv Gandhi’s desire to teach Nepal a lesson for its alleged disrespect towards his Catholic wife.
Due to the blockade, bilateral trade between the two countries came to a halt and relations became strained.
Former Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) special director Amar Bhushan, in his book ‘Inside Nepal’, has revealed how the agency had worked to overthrow Nepal’s monarchy during Rajiv Gandhi’s reign.