Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav: Remembering Aruna Asaf Ali, the grand old lady of India’s freedom struggle

New Delhi, July 20: India's freedom struggle is incomplete without the mention of its leaders and well-known freedom fighters. However, there are many freedom fighters who are lost to public memory.

Aruna Asaf Ali popularly known as the 'Grand Old Lady' of the Independence Movement, is one of those who remained unsung heros of freedom struggle.

Aruna Asaf Ali was an Indian educator, political activist, and publisher. She is widely remembered for hoisting the Indian National flag at the Gowalia Tank Maidan, Bombay during the Quit India Movement in 1942, giving the movement one of its most long-lasting images.

Aruna Asaf Ali was born on 16 July 1909 in Kalka, Punjab, British India (now in Haryana, India) into a Bengali Brahmin family.

She became a member of the Indian National Congress and participated in public processions during the Salt Satyagraha. She was arrested, and not released in 1931 under the Gandhi-Irwin Pact which stipulated the release of all political prisoners.

Other women co-prisoners refused to leave the premises unless she was also released and gave in only after Mahatma Gandhi intervened.

In 1932, she was held prisoner at the Tihar Jail where she protested the indifferent treatment of political prisoners by launching a hunger strike.

She was politically not very active after her release, until 1942. Known for her independent streak, she even disobeyed Gandhi's request to surrender herself in 1946.

Post-independence, she remained active in politics, becoming Delhi's first Mayor. She was also awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 1992 and the Bharat Ratna posthumously in 1997.

As we celebrate Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav it is pertinent to remember her significant contribution to the Indian freedom struggle.