Aruna Asaf Ali (1909 – 1996) was a freedom fighter, educator, political activist, and publisher. An active participant in the Indian independence movement, she is widely remembered for hoisting the Indian National flag at the Gowalia Tank maidan, Bombay during the Quit India Movement in 1942.
She became a member of Indian National Congress after marrying Asaf Ali and participated in public processions during the Salt Satyagraha. She was arrested on the charge that she was a vagrant and hence not released in 1931 under the Gandhi–Irwin Pact which stipulated 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. A public agitation secured her release.
Post-independence, she remained active in politics, becoming Delhi's first Mayor.
Disillusioned with the progress of the Congress Party on socialism, she left that party and joined the Communist Party of India in the early 1950s.
Aruna Asaf Ali (nee Ganguly) was born into a Bengali Brahmin family to Upendranath Ganguly and Ambalika Devi. Aruna's sister Purnima Banerjee was a member of the Constituent Assembly of India.
Aruna was educated at Sacred Heart Convent in Lahore and then at All Saints' College in Nainital. After her graduation, she worked as a teacher at the Gokhale Memorial School in Calcutta. She met Asaf Ali, a leader in the Congress party, in Allahabad. They got married, despite parental opposition on grounds of religion and age (he was a Muslim and her senior by more than 20 years)
She was awarded India's second highest civilian honour, the Padma Vibhushan in 1992 and Bharat Ratna posthumously in 1997.