Coal Secretary Anil Swarup said in a facebook post: "Quitting seems to be the fashion these days. Should India join the bandwagon?... Go for a referendum on whether India should break away from the colonial past and quit the Commonwealth?"
In a crucial referendum, Britain has voted to leave the EU in a deadly blow to the 28-nation bloc that triggered a panic reaction in financial markets globally.
The Commonwealth is a voluntary association of 53 independent and equal sovereign states. Its roots go back to the British Empire when some countries were ruled directly or indirectly by Britain.