Aruna Asaf Ali

Entry into politics

Through her husband, Aruna was introduced to the Congress Party and became involved in the party and in the Indian Independence Movement. She joined campaigns and processions and was arrested, along with thousands of others, for her political activism during a major nonviolent movement, the Salt March, which was launched in 1930 by Gandhi and included protests against a salt tax the British imposed on Indians. In 1931 the Gandhi-Irwin Pact was signed between Gandhi and Lord Irwin, the British viceroy of India, marking the end of a period of civil disobedience (satyagraha) that had been initiated with the Salt March. This pact led to the release of the political prisoners, but the British government did not free Aruna, causing an uproar among other women prisoners who, inspired by her revolutionary spirit, refused to leave until she was freed. There was widespread unrest regarding Aruna’s extended detention following the protests by women prisoners. With public agitation growing, Gandhi intervened and ensured her release. However, she was jailed again in 1932. Imprisoned in Delhi, she continued to be defiant, going on a hunger strike and demanding that authorities improve the abysmal living conditions of the prisoners and treat them better. This did not sit well with the British rulers, who shifted her to a facility in Ambala, where she was kept in solitary confinement.

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Aruna took a hiatus from direct politics for nearly 10 years after she was freed from the prison in Ambala. However, she stayed connected with Congress Party members and worked with social worker and political activist Rameshwari Nehru, the founder and president of the Delhi Women’s League, gaining administrative and organizational proficiency. She was a part of the All India Women’s Conference (AIWC), an organization working for women’s education and social welfare, and explored the ideologies of socialism alongside Gandhi’s ideals.

At the front line of Quit India Movement

A key moment for Aruna came in 1942. Although she had stayed away from active politics for nearly a decade, Aruna traveled to Bombay (now Mumbai) with Asaf Ali in the first week of August and was present at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) meeting held in the city on August 7, 1942. The Congress Party leadership voted to initiate the nonviolent Quit India Movement the next day.

The Quit India Movement began in response to Britain’s unilateral decision to involve India in World War II without consulting Indian leaders. Outraged by this, the Congress Party demanded immediate independence from Britain and, on July 14, 1942, passed the “Quit India” resolution, authorizing Gandhi to launch a mass nonviolent protest against British rule.

On August 9, 1942, the morning after the decision was made to implement the Quit India resolution, British authorities arrested Gandhi and dozens of other leaders of the Congress Party, including Jawaharlal Nehru and Asaf Ali, in the hope of suppressing the movement. However, younger and more militant members, among them Aruna, took charge of the movement. She addressed the supporters and gave the clarion call when she raised the Indian flag at the Gowalia Tank Maidan, the site of the AICC meeting (now known as August Kranti Maidan; kranti in Hindi meaning “revolution”), in Bombay later that day. This act is seen as the definitive beginning of the movement, providing an immediate impetus to the revolutionaries. Demonstrations, marches, and strikes followed, with Aruna in the thick of the action.

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When the police issued a warrant for Aruna’s arrest, she went underground, continuing her operations covertly. The police announced a reward of 5,000 Indian rupees, a hefty sum at the time, for her capture and seized her property. She remained on the run even though Gandhi, concerned about her failing health, requested her to surrender. Although a fugitive, she spread revolutionary messages among the masses, visited villages reeling under famine, and extended support to people in need. Working alongside nationalists such as Jayaprakash Narayan, Ram Manohar Lohia, Achyut Patwardhan, and Edatata Narayanan, she embraced a socialist vision.

End of fugitive life

In 1945 the political prisoners involved with the Quit India Movement, including leaders such as Nehru and Vallabhbhai Patel, were released, and the Congress Working Committee issued a statement reaffirming the party’s commitment to nonviolence. Aruna’s arrest warrant was revoked in January 1946, and she came out of hiding, participating openly in the freedom movement again. Her radical speeches in various cities, such as Calcutta, Delhi, and Bombay, rallied thousands. With her socialist leaning, she championed the cause of workers, and when the Royal Indian Navy broke out in a rebellion on February 18, 1946, over their grievances about pay, food, working conditions, and discrimination, Aruna supported their revolt even though Congress Party leaders including Gandhi and Nehru were not in favor of it. This caused a rift since Gandhi not only denounced the mutiny but also objected to Aruna’s involvement in it.