ARUNA ASAF ALI

BEFORE PROCEEDING WITH THIS POST LETS MAKE ONE POINT CLEAR ie
INFORMATION ABOUT WOMAN NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL FAME
IS COLLECTED THRO ALREADY ESTABLISHED
INFORMATION BANKS..... for this post a little information is
taken from wikipaedia.... the other post about simple lives and
other comments is entirely my creation.


The name “Aruna Asaf Ali” brings to our mind the Gowalia tank
incidence. Gowalia tank is situated in Bombay --the present Mumbai.

As a movement of the freedom struggle, it was decided to hoist the
congress flag at this maidan.Along with the other freedom fighter,
Aruna Asaf Ali was the first woman to hoist the flag.

Her child hood was spent mostly in Haryana.Born to upendranath ganguli and ambalika Devi. She educated to become a teacher and married a Muslim “Asaf Ali”. She being a Hindu this marriage too like Sarojini Naidu created a hue and a cry. Asaf Ali was a leaderin the congress party. After marriage, she too joined the congress party and became an active member.
She participated in the various Satyagraha and was sent to jail.In 1932 a prisoner in tihar jail, she protested the indifferent treatment to political prisioners; her efforts improved the condition of these prisoners. However, later she was subjected
to solitary confinement at ambala jail.
Later she is mainly remembered for her active participation in the quit India movement. At a very young age she presided,the meeting at gowalia tank and on august ninth hoisted the congress flag marking the opening of the quit India movement.

As per the following information from internet sources namely (wikipaedia)….
“An arrest warrant was issued in her name but she went underground to evade the arrest. Her property was seized and sold. In the meanwhile, she also edited Inquilab, a monthly magazine of the Congress Party; Leaders such as Jayaprakash Narayan and Aruna Asaf Ali were described as "the Political children of Gandhi. The government announced a reward of Rs. 5,000/- for her capture. Mahatma Gandhi sent
her a hand-written note to come out of hiding and surrender herself – as her mission was accomplished and she could utilize the reward amount for the Harijan cause. However, she came out of hiding in 1946 after the warrant against her was withdrawn. She treasured the note from the Mahatma.
However, she also faced criticism from Gandhi for her support of the RIN Mutiny, a movement she saw as the single greatest unifying factor of Hindus and Muslims .
She was a member of the Congress Socialist Party. Disillusioned with the progress of Congress party on socialism she joined a new party, Socialist Party in 1948. She however left that party along with Edatata Narayanan and they visited Moscow
along with Rajani Palme Dutt. Both of them joined the CPI before Stalin's death. On domestic front, she was bereaved when Asaf Ali died in 1953. In 1954, she helped to form the National Federation of Indian Women, the women’s wing of CPI but left the party in 1956 following Khruschev's disowning of Stalin. In 1958, she was elected the first Mayor of Delhi.
She and Narayanan started Link publishing house and published a daily, Patriot and a weekly, Link the same year. In 1964, she rejoined the Congress Party but stopped taking part in active politics. Despite reservations about the emergency,she remained close to Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. She was awarded the Padma Bhushan in her lifetime.
Aruna Asaf Ali was awarded International Lenin Peace Prize for the year 1964. She was awarded India’s highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna, posthumously in 1997. In 1998, a stamp commemorating her was issued. Aruna Asaf Ali marg in New Delhi is named after her. All India Minorities Front distributes the Dr Aruna Asaf Ali Sadbhawana Award annually.”
Therefore, here is to the memory of another
great woman ….hats off to her ….



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