Aruna Asaf Ali was an Indian educator, political activist, and publisher.

An active
participant in the Indian independence movement, she is widely remembered for
hoisting the Indian National flag at the Gowalia Tank maidan, Bombay during a Quit
India Movement in 1942, giving the movement one of it’s most long-lasting image.

She became a member of Indian National Congress and participated in public

processions during the Salt Satyagraha. She was arrested, and not released in 1931
under the Gandhi-Irwin Pact which stipulated release of all political prisoners. Other
women co-prisoners refused to leave the premises unless she was also released
and gave in only after Mahatma Gandhi intervened.

She was politically not very active after her release, until 1942. Known for her
independent streak, she even disobeyed Gandhi’s request to surrender herself in
1946.

Post-independence, she remained active in politics, becoming Delhi's first

Mayor.She was also awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 1992 and the Bharat Ratna
posthumously in 1997.

New Delhi: Aruna Asaf Ali, one of the leading female figures of

India’s freedom movement, was a revolutionary Leftist who picked
up the mantle of leadership during the Quit India Movement in
1942.

On 8 August 1942, the Congress passed the Quit India resolution —

and all its prominent leaders, including Mahatma Gandhi and
Jawaharlal Nehru, were arrested by the British government.

Responding to Gandhi’s call to “do or die”, she defied the British by

hoisting the Tricolour on 9 August 1942 at the Gowalia Tank
Maidan (now Azad Maidan) in Bombay, giving the movement one of
the Quit India Movement’s most enduring images. She successfully
escaped arrest and went underground for years.

Post-independence, she remained active in public work, and was

elected Delhi’s first woman mayor in 1958. She ran the Left-
leaning Patriot newspaper and the weekly magazine Link in New
Delhi. Ali passed away on 29 July 1996.

Contribution to the freedom struggle

Raised in a liberal, upper caste Bengali family that was part of the
Brahmo Samaj and related to Rabindranath Tagore, Aruna Ganguly
was extremely well educated. She married Asaf Ali, a member of the
Congress best known for defending Bhagat Singh, and later
becoming the Indian ambassador to the United States of America,
despite severe opposition. He was 23 years her senior, and died in
1953.

Powered By

Through Asaf Ali, Aruna associated with the leaders of the Indian
freedom struggle and became an active member of the Congress.

She was arrested in 1931, and her release was secured only when
Mahatma Gandhi intervened after public protests. Other women
prisoners refused to leave the premises until she was also released.
In 1932, she was arrested again and held in Tihar Jail, where she
launched a hunger strike to protest the treatment of other political
prisoners. She was moved to solitary confinement in Ambala, and
was politically inactive after her release for 10 years until the Quit
India Movement.

After 1942, her property was seized and sold. She went
underground, and edited the Congress’s monthly
magazine Inquilab with Ram Manohar Lohia.

Known for her independent streak, she even disobeyed Gandhi’s

request to surrender herself in 1946. “I have been filled with
admiration for your courage and heroism. You are reduced to a
skeleton. Do come out and surrender yourself and win the prize
offered for your arrest. Reserve the prize money for the Harijan
(untouchables’) cause,” he had written.

The note reportedly remained with her all her life, but she

resurfaced only when the reward on her head was withdrawn. She
 stuck to her ideals, and faced censure from Gandhi for her support
of the Royal Indian Navy Mutiny.

Post-independence work
In 1948, Aruna quit the Congress and joined the Socialist Party. In
the early 1950s, she became a member of the Communist Party of
India, though she quit the party in 1956 following Krushchev’s
denouncement of Stalin in the USSR.

She remained a Leftist throughout her life, and was instrumental in

developing the National Federation of Indian Women, the women’s
wing of the CPI.

Aruna was dedicated to mobilising support for Dalits,

and opposed “needless industrialisation” as she believed it would
lead to environmental degradation and social alienation. While she
worked towards the upliftment of women, she faced criticism from
feminist groups for her resisting affirmative action for women.
She believed that education and better healthcare would do more
for women than reservation.

She rejoined the Congress in 1964, though she stepped back from
active politics. She remained close to Indira Gandhi despite being a
critic of the Emergency.

Aruna was honoured both by the nationalists and the Left. Though
she steered clear of accepting awards publicly, she was given the
Order of Lenin and the Lenin Peace Prize in 1965. She was also
awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 1992 and the Bharat Ratna
posthumously in 1997. She was also the recipient of the Nehru
Award for International Understanding.

HIGHLIGHTS
 She was greatly influenced by Mahatma Gandhi's ideals and beliefs
 Her husband Asaf Ali was a leader in the Congress party

 She was honoured with the Bharat Ratna in 1997

Aruna Asaf Ali popularly known as the 'Grand Old Lady' of the Independence
Movement, is one of those relatively-unknown independence activists and
today, we celebrate her 23rd death anniversary.
She is known for hoisting the Indian flag at the Gowalia Tank Maidan in
Mumbai during the Quit India Movement.
In 1932, she had gone on a hunger strike in Tihar Jail against the
mistreatment of the political prisoners, which led to an improvement in their
living conditions.
The rebel Bramho girl who married a man 23 years older than her
She was born as Aruna Ganguly on July 16, 1909, in a liberal Brahmo family.
Her father, Upendranath Ganguly, a restaurant owner, had migrated from
Barisal in modern Bangladesh to the United Provinces (present-day Uttar
Pradesh).

CHECK THESE OUT

MORE


Influencer, choreographer & content creator Tarun Rathore on acquiring Million followers
R E C OM ME N D E D


India ups surveillance along Sri Lankan waters amid political crisis
M OS T R E A D


Friendship Day 2022: Date, history and list of 3 songs to dedicate to your best friend
R E C OM ME N D E D


Rare black tiger caught on cam in Odisha’s Simlipal National Park. What a beauty, says Internet
 T R E N D IN G


Cooking oil prices to go down by Rs 15? All you need to know
M OS T R E A D


Madhya Pradesh: Denied ambulance, boy, 8, sits with body of 2-year-old brother on road
M OS T R E A D

She completed her schooling from Lahore's Sacred Heart Convent and later
went to All Saints College in Nainital. Her first job was as a teacher at Gokhale
Memorial School, Calcutta.
In 1928 she married a much older Asaf ali, who was a Muslim and a
prominent member of the Indian National Congress (INC). Her marriage was
opposed by her parents, but it was through her partner that she got her first
exposure to the political world. Soon she followed the footsteps of her
husband and became an increasingly active member of the Congress party.
ADVERTISEMENT

Aruna Asaf Ali courted her first arrest within two years of marriage
Her first endeavor into politics started with an active participation in the Salt
Satyagraha in 1930. It was then that she was arrested for the first time, on the
charges of being a nomad.
Unlike other prisoners, who were released on an account of the Gandhi Irwin
Pact in 1931, she was released after the public protested against her arrest.
In 1932, she was arrested yet again for participating in the freedom
movement. While in jail, she organised protests against the ill-treatment being
meted out to them by launching a hunger strike.