Dehradun: In a touching gesture, a blind octogenarian woman at an old age home in Dehradun had nominated Congress MP and Leader of Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, as her heir for her gold jewelry and fixed deposit.
About three years ago, in April 2022, 80-year-old Pushpa Munjiyal bequeathed gold and money worth about Rs 50 lakhs to Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, impressed by his ‘honesty’. She recalls that Nehru convinced her father to stay in India after Partition. Despite making headlines three years ago by naming Rahul Gandhi in her will, the Dehradun-based octogenarian has yet to hear from him.
Historical connection with the Congress leader’s family
At that time, Munjiyal shared her historical connection with the Congress leader’s family. It was Gandhi’s great-grandfather and India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, who persuaded Munjiyal’s father to stay in India after the Partition in 1947. “We migrated to India from Quetta, in the Baluchistan province of Pakistan, during the pre-partition riots. My father, Meghraj Munjiyal, was a freedom fighter in Pakistan but had to flee with his family during the Partition. We came here along with 100 other Hindus,” Munjiyal told the media in the year 2022.
Nehru persuaded her father to stay in India
Munjiyal herself has never met anyone from the Nehru-Gandhi family, however, she recalled her old days during an interview to The Print, “After coming to Delhi, my father met Jawaharlal Nehru and explained how we had lost everything in Quetta and had to leave our home empty-handed. My father wanted to return to Quetta after the riots because we had a lot of property there. He told Nehru that we had nothing in India and planned to go back to Baluchistan. But Nehru advised against returning, saying our women and daughters would not be safe there. This persuaded us to stay in India, and my father relocated to Dehradun with his six daughters and one son.”
Spending her last years in an old age home
Munjiyal, a retired school teacher, never married and her family never owned a house in Dehradun. Instead, they chose to live in rented accommodations, even though they ran a successful tea business. Pushpa used to teach in Guru Nanak Girls Inter College Khudbuda Mohalla. Having no connection with her sisters now, Pushpa Munjiyal has been living at Prem Dham Ashram in Dalanwala area of Dehradun after the death of his brother. She also lost her vision and suffered illnesses. After retirement, she also donated Rs 25 lakh from her property to Doon Hospital.
Reasons to make Rahul Gandhi as her heir
Over the motivation to make Rahul Gandhi as her heir, Pushpa said that Gandhi “belongs to a royal family” and my father has had family relations with Rahul Gandhi’s family. “That is why I chose Rahul Gandhi as the heir of my property. I am also very impressed with Rahul Gandhi’s thoughts. This was the reason why I chose Rahul Gandhi as my heir,” Pushpa said. She also said that whenever she gets a chance to meet Rahul Gandhi, she will hand over the property to him.
