ARUNA ASIF ALI
Aruna Asif Ali was an Indian
independence activist. She is widely remembered for hoisting the Indian
National Congress flag at the Gowalia Tank maidan in Bombay during the Quit
India Movement, 1942.
The turning point in Aruna's life was her participation in the
Quit India movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi in August 1942. Following the arrest of all the leaders of the
Indian National Congress, on 9th august
1942 Aruna presided over the historic Congress session in Bombay
(Mumbai) and hoisted the national flag. This marked
the commencement of the movement. The police fired upon the assembly at the
session. Aruna was dubbed the Heroine
of the 1942 movement for her bravery in the face of danger and was
called Grand Old Lady of the
Independence movement in her later years.
Outraged by the trampling of the flag by a British soldier, she
renounced nonviolence and went underground to guide the movement, moving from
city to city to escape arrest. Along
with Ram Manohar Lohia , she edited Inquilab, a revolutionary monthly of congress
party. The government announced an award
of five thousand rupees for her capture, but she successfully remained
underground until 1946, when the warrants against her were canceled.
She
broke away from the Congress and later joined the Left Socialist Group; she
also took an active interest in the trade union movement. This group merged with the Communist Party of
India (CPI) in 1955, and Aruna became a member of the central committee and
vice president of the All India Trade Union Congress. In 1954 she established the National
Federation of Indian Women, the women's wing of the CPI.
In 1958 she left the CPI and became Delhi's first elected mayor. She was a leading member of the
Indo-Soviet Cultural Society and the All India Peace Council.
She
was associated with two left-wing journals: Link, a weekly started in 1958, and Patriot, a daily founded in 1962.
Aruna was awarded several national and
international awards
International
Lenin Peace Prize 1964,
Indira
Gandhi Award for National Integration
Jawaharlal
Nehru Award for International Understanding 1991
Padma
Vibhushan, 1992
Bharat
Ratna (posthumously) 1997.
Aruna Asif Ali Marg in
New Delhi was named in her honor. The all India Minorities distributes the Dr
Aruna Asaf Ali Sadbhawana Award annually.
Comments
Post a Comment