Aruna Asaf | |
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| Personal details | |
| Born | Aruna Ganguly (1909-07-16)16 July 1909 |
| Died | 29 July 1996 (aged 87) New Delhi, India |
| Nationality | • British India (1909-1947)•  India (1947-1996) |
| Political party | Communist Party of India |
| Other political affiliations | Indian National Congress |
| Spouse | |
| Parent |
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| Alma mater | Sacred Heart Convent |
| Occupation |
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| Awards | International Lenin Peace Prize (1964) Jawaharlal Nehru Prize (1991) Padma Vibhushan (1992) Bharat Ratna (1997) |
Aruna Asaf Ali (néeGanguly) (Bengali pronunciation:[oruɳa];[1] 16 July 1909 – 29 July 1996) was an Indian educator, political activist, and publisher. An active participant in theIndian independence movement, she is widely remembered for hoisting theIndian National flag at theGowalia Tank Maidan,Bombay during theQuit India Movement in 1942. Post-independence, she remained active in politics, becomingDelhi's first mayor.[2]
Aruna Asaf Ali was born on 16 July 1909 in Kalka,Punjab,British India (now inHaryana, India) into aBengaliBrahmin family.[3] Her father Upendranath Ganguly hailed fromBarisal District of EasternBengal (nowBangladesh) but settled in the United Province. He was a restaurant owner. Her mother Ambalika Devi was the daughter of Trailokyanath Sanyal, a renowned Brahmo leader who wrote manyBrahmo hymns. Upendranath Ganguly's younger brotherDhirendranath Ganguly (DG) was one of the earliest film directors.[4] Another brother, Nagendranath, was a university professor who marriedNobel Prize winnerRabindranath Tagore's only surviving daughter Mira Devi.[5] Aruna's sisterPurnima Banerjee was a member of theConstituent Assembly of India.
Aruna was educated atSacred Heart Convent in Lahore and then atAll Saints' College inNainital. After her graduation, she worked as a teacher at theGokhale Memorial School inCalcutta. She metAsaf Ali, a leader in theIndian National Congress, inAllahabad. They got married in 1928, despite parental opposition on grounds of religion and age (he was aMuslim and her senior by more than 20 years).[6]
My father was no more when Asaf and I married in September 1928. My paternal uncle Nagendranath Ganguly, a university professor who regarded himself as my guardian, said to relatives and friends that as far as he was concerned I was dead and he had performed myshraddh.[7]
Aruna Asaf Ali had a major role in the Indian independence Movement. She became a member ofIndian National Congress after marrying Asaf Ali and participated in public processions during theSalt Satyagraha. She was arrested at the age of 21 on the charge that she was avagrant and hence not released in 1931 under theGandhi–Irwin Pact which stipulated the release of all political prisoners. Other women co-prisoners refused to leave the premises unless she was released and gave in only afterMahatma Gandhi intervened. A public agitation secured her release.
In 1932, she was heldprisoner at theTihar Jail where she protested the indifferent treatment of political prisoners by launching a hunger strike. Her efforts improved conditions in the Tihar Jail but she was moved toAmbala and subjected to solitary confinement. She was politically not very active after her release, but at the end of 1942, she took part in the underground movement.
On 8 August 1942, theAll India Congress Committee passed theQuit India resolution at theBombay session. The government responded by arresting the major leaders and all members of theCongress Working Committee and thus tried to pre-empt the movement from success. Young Aruna Asaf Ali presided over the remainder of the session on 9 August and hoisted the Congress flag at the Gowalia Tank Maidan. This marked the commencement of the movement. The police fired upon the assembly at the session. Aruna was dubbed theQueen of the 1942 movement for her bravery in the face of danger and was calledGrand Old Lady of the Independence movement in her later years. Despite the absence of direct leadership, spontaneous protests and demonstrations were held all over the country, as an expression of the desire of India's youth to achieve independence.[citation needed]
An arrest warrant was issued in her name but she went underground to evade the arrest and started an underground movement in the year 1942. Her property was seized and sold. In the meanwhile, she also editedInquilab, a monthly magazine of the Congress Party, along withRam Manohar Lohia. In a 1944 issue, she exhorted the youth to action by asking them to forget futile discussions about violence andnon-violence and join the revolution. Leaders such asJayaprakash Narayan and Aruna Asaf Ali were described as "the Political children of Gandhi but recent students ofKarl Marx." The government announced a reward of 5,000rupees for her capture.[citation needed]
She fell ill and was for a period hiding in Dr Joshi's Hospital in Karol Bagh in Delhi. Mahatma Gandhi sent her a hand-written note to her to come out of hiding and surrender herself – as her mission was accomplished and as she could utilize the reward amount for theHarijan cause. However, she came out of hiding only after the warrant against her was withdrawn in 1946. She treasured the note from the Mahatma and it adorned her drawing room. However, she also faced criticism from Gandhi for her support of theRoyal Indian Navy mutiny, a movement she saw as the single greatest unifying factor of Hindus and Muslims at a time that was the peak of the movement for Pakistan.[8]
She was a member of theCongress Socialist Party, acaucus within theCongress Party for activists withsocialist leanings. Disillusioned with the progress of the Congress Party on socialism she joined a new party,Socialist Party in 1948. She, however, left that party along withEdatata Narayanan and they visitedMoscow along withRajani Palme Dutt. Both of them joined theCommunist Party of India in the early 1950s. On the personal front, she was bereaved when Asaf Ali died in 1953.[citation needed]
In 1954, she helped form theNational Federation of Indian Women, the women's wing of CPI but left the party in 1956 followingNikita Khrushchev's disowning of Stalin. In 1958, she was elected the firstMayor ofDelhi. She was closely associated with social activists and secularists of her era like Krishna Menon, Vimla Kapoor,Guru Radha Kishan, Premsagar Gupta, Rajani Palme Joti, Sarla Sharma and Subhadra Joshi for social welfare and development in Delhi.[citation needed]
In December 1960,[9] she was part of a delegation that met with thenHome Minister of IndiaPandit Pant inNew Delhi, urging the Indian government to take action for the freedom of Goa. Others in the delegation were Eclito D’Souza,Irene Heredia,Vishwanath Lawande,Lambert Mascarenhas,George Vaz andBertha Braganza.[10]
She and Narayanan started Link publishing house and published a daily newspaper,Patriot and a weekly,Link the same year. The publications became prestigious due to the patronage of leaders such asJawaharlal Nehru,Krishna Menon andBiju Patnaik. Later she moved out of the publishing house due to internal politics, stunned by greed taking over the creed of her comrades. Despite reservations about theemergency, she remained close toIndira Gandhi andRajiv Gandhi.
She wrote a book calledIdeas of A Nation, which was later also published byPenguin in theirWords of Freedom series to commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of India's independence.[11]
She died inNew Delhi on 29 July 1996, aged 87.[12]
Aruna Asaf Ali was awardedInternational Lenin Peace Prize in the year 1964[13] and theJawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding in 1991.[14] She was awarded India's second highest civilian honour, thePadma Vibhushan in her lifetime in 1992, and finally the highest civilian award, theBharat Ratna,posthumously in 1997.[15] In 1998, a stamp commemorating her was issued.Aruna Asaf Ali Marg inNew Delhi was named in her honour.All India Minorities Front distributes theDr Aruna Asaf Ali Sadbhawana Award annually. There is also a government hospital in New Delhi named in her honour, the Aruna Asaf Ali Govt. Hospital (AAAGH).[16][17]
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