Aruna Asaf Ali

Aruna Asaf Ali ( born Aruna Ganguli, * July 16, 1909 in Kalka, Haryana, † 29 July 1996) was an Indian freedom fighter. She gained wide notoriety by raising the flag of the Indian National Congress in the park Gowalia Tank in Bombay (today Mumbai ) during the Quit India movement (1942 ).

Life

Aruna was born into a Bengali Brahmo Samaj family and worked as a teacher in Calcutta. In 1928 she married the much older Muslim Asaf Ali. She was an active member of the Indian National Congress. Political activities in connection with the salt march brought them to prison.

In 1942, she hoisted the flag of the Indian National Congress in the park Gowalia Tank in Bombay (present-day Mumbai) in the wake of the Quit India movement. Later, she dived into the ground. She was also active in various socialist party groupings. In 1958 she was elected the first mayor in Delhi. During this time she worked and lived closely with Edatata Narayanan and brought out various publications. Although they re-entered the 1964 National Congress, it remained henceforth far from active politics.

Aruna won the 1997 posthumous Bharat Ratna award.