Budhni Mejhan, the tribal ‘wife’ of Jawaharlal Nehru who faced lifelong ostracism from her community, passed away at her home near Panchet in Jharkhand on Friday (17th November) night. She was 80 years old at the time of her death.
As per reports, the Santhali woman suffered a cardiac arrest and was cremated on Sunday (19th November). She is now survived by her 60-year-old daughter Ratna and grandson Bapi (35).
Local politicians and officials flocked to pay homage to Budhni Mejhan. The chief of Panchet Panchayat, Bhairav Mandal, has written to the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) to erect a memorial in honour of the ‘tribal wife’ of Jawaharlal Nehru.
നെഹ്റു മാലയിട്ടതിനാല് ഊരുവിലക്ക് നേരിടേണ്ടി വന്ന ബുധ്നി അന്തരിച്ചു #BudhniMejhan #JawaharlalNehruhttps://t.co/GKf0pqAjZM pic.twitter.com/FfhIE6knQQ
— Manorama News (@manoramanews) November 18, 2023
He has also sought a house and pension for Ratna. While reacting to the demands, the Deputy chief engineer of DVC (Panchet) Sumesh Kumar said, “These decisions can be taken only after consulting top officials.”
Budhni Mejhan faced ostracism due to Nehru
On 6th December 1959, Nehru visited a West Bengal village to inaugurate a dam. The Damodar Valley Corporation had chosen a 15-year-old tribal girl called Budhni Manjhiyan for Nehru’s welcome.
While Budhni Mejhan was extremely happy, little did she know, that her life was about to take an extremely troublesome turn. During the inauguration, since this was the first dam being inaugurated by a tribal woman, Jawaharlal Nehru gave Budhni a garland as a mark of appreciation.
He had wanted the dam to be inaugurated by someone who had worked on the construction of it. That night, the Panchayat of the Santhali society was called to discuss these ‘developments’.
Budhni, to her horror, was informed that according to Tribal traditions, she was now married to Jawaharlal Nehru, since garlands were exchanged. Also according to Tribal traditions, since Nehru, now declared her husband, was a non-tribal, she was boycotted by the Santhali community.
At that point in time, Budhni continued to work at the Damodar Valley Corporation but that didn’t last. She was soon, in 1962, thrown out of her job and found herself helpless. She later moved to Jharkhand and struggled to make ends meet there for 7 years.
She later met a man, Sudhir Datta, whom she got close to. They wanted to marry but couldn’t because they feared the repercussions they might have to face in their society. However, they continued to live together and have three children together.
It is reported that in 1985, when Rajiv Gandhi came to know about Budhni, he tracked her down and Budhni even went to meet him. As a result of which, she got her job back with the Damodar Valley Corporation.
When asked in 2016 about her wishes, she said, “I appeal to Rahul Gandhi to get us a house and a job for my daughter, so we can spend the rest of our lives in peace.”
The person who inaugurated the dam along with Budhni, Ravod Manjhi had once spoken to BBC and said, “Jawaharlal Nehru had promised us free electricity and houses, but nothing happened”. When asked about Budhni, he said he didn’t want to recall the ordeal.
