Aruna Asif Ali

 

Aruna Asaf Ali: Grand Old Lady

“I know where I am going and I know the truth, and I don’t have to be what you want me to be. I am free to be what I want.” - Aruna Asaf Ali

Aruna Asaf Ali, Commonly referred to as the “Grand Old Lady”’ of the independence movement, or the “Heroine of the 1942 movement.” 

Aruna Asaf Ali is perhaps best known for flying the Indian flag at Gowalia Tank Maidan in 1942, thereby saving the Quit India movement from an untimely death. British authorities had just arrested the movement’s leaders, and Ali was determined not to stand idly by in their absence. She bravely raised the Indian flag in full public view, an act of rebellion that sparked a chain of protests and civil disobedience around the country.

Before that, she taught in Calcutta, married India National Congressman Asaf Ali, and engaged in the fight for Indian freedom. She took part in the Salt Satyagraha demonstrations of 1930, during which she got arrested for the first time. When she remained in prison after the Gandhi-Irwin Pact of 1931 (which protected political prisoners), there was such a public uproar that the authorities had to release her.
Ali was arrested again in 1932, but continued her resistance in jail. She went on a hunger strike to object to the conditions political prisoners faced at Tihar Jail. Her protest led to changes at the jail, but she was punished with solitary confinement in Ambala.

In 1942, after Ali’s famous political statement of raising the flag, the police issued a warrant and reward for her arrest. To avoid capture, she went into hiding for four years. She remained active underground, however, working on the Congress Party’s monthly magazine with Ram Manohar Lohia.

After India gained independence in 1947, Ali dedicated herself to social reform, including women’s and workers’ rights. She published Patriot newspaper and Link magazine; became the first Mayor of Delhi in 1958; and won the International Lenin Peace Prize in 1964 and the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding in 1991. In 1992, Ali earned the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second highest civilian honor, then the highest, the Bharat Ratna, in 1997.