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This decision to stand in for Maulana Azad was the beginning
of a chapter of heroism and unrest in the life of Aruna Asaf Ali.
Her narrative proceeds.

“Bhulabhai Desai’s son, Dhirubai had come to the railway
Not to be republished
station and he drove me in his car to the maidan. The meeting
was declared illegal under Section 144. A white-skinned sergeant
gave two minutes for the crowd to disperse. I quickly scrambled
up to the dais, announced to the people the arrest of the leaders,
©KTBS
and pulled the cord to hoist the national flag. Hardly had the
flag been unfurled, when the police lobbed tear gas shells into
the crowd. The men and women ran helter-skelter with tears
streaming down their cheeks. The experience of that morning
made me decide that I would not again tamely enter jail by
offering satyagraha”.
Aruna’s act of defiance on August 9th virtually marked the
start of the Quit India Movement. She now became a full time
activist in the Movement, eventually going underground, to avoid
being arrested. She became the editor of “Inquilaab”, the monthly
magazine for the Congress, along with Ram Manohar Lohia.
In the 1944 issue of the magazine, she advised freedom
fighters not to allow any academic arguments on questions like
violence and non-violence to divert attention from the stern
realities of the day........... “I want every student and youth to
think, and feel as soldiers of the nation that is to come”.
In the meantime, the Government announced a reward of
Rs. 5000 for her capture. She became ill and on hearing this,
Gandhiji advised her to surrender. “I have sent you a message
that you must not die underground. You are reduced to a
skeleton. Do come out and surrender yourself and take the price
offered for your arrest. Reserve the prize money for the great
Indian cause”.
However, Aruna surrendered only when the warrants for
her arrest were cancelled on 26 January, 1946.
After India attained independence, Aruna Asaf Ali turned
to social work and helped to establish the National Federation
of Indian Women in 1954. In 1992, she was awarded the Nehru
Award for International Understanding. She breathed her last

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