Asaf Ali

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Recently, the government released a pictorial book on India’s Women Unsung Heroes of Freedom Struggle as part of Azadi ka Mahotsav. 

Aruna Asaf Ali

Image Courtesy: Amrit Mohotsav 

• Aruna Asaf Ali was an Indian educator, political activist, and publisher. 
• She was popularly known as the ‘Grand Old Lady’ of the Independence Movement.
• Hoisting the Flag:
  • She is widely remembered for hoisting the Indian National flag at the Gowalia Tank maidan, Bombay during a Quit India Movement in 1942, giving the movement one of its most long-lasting images.
  • This event of hoisting the flag was followed by an uproar among the people and the emergence of several young leaders such as Ram Manohar Lohia, Jai Prakash Narayan, SM Joshi.
• Contributions:
  • She became a member of 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 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.
  • 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.

Women Freedom Fighters

• Rani Abakka, the Queen of Ullal, Karnataka fought and defeated the mighty Portuguese in the 16th century.  
• Velu Nachiyar, the queen of Sivaganga was the first Indian queen to wage war against the British East India Company.  
• Jhalkari Bai, was a woman soldier who grew to become one of the key advisors to the Rani of Jhansi and a prominent figure in the First War of Indian Independence, 1857.
• Matangini Hazra was a brave freedom fighter from Bengal, who laid down her life while agitating against the British. 
• Gulab Kaur was a freedom fighter who abandoned her own hopes and dreams of a life abroad to fight for and mobilise the Indian people against the British Raj. 
• Chakali Ilamma was a revolutionary woman who fought against the injustice of zamindars during the Telangana rebellion in the mid-1940s. 
• Padmaja Naidu, the daughter of Sarojini Naidu and a freedom fighter in her own right, who would later become Governor of West Bengal and a humanitarian after Independence.
• Bishni Devi Shah, a woman who inspired a large number of people in Uttarakhand to join the freedom movement. 
• Subhadra Kumari Chauhan was one of the greatest Hindi poets, who was also a prominent figure in the freedom movement. 
• Durgawati Devi was the brave woman who provided safe passage to Bhagat Singh after the killing of John Saunders and much more during her revolutionary days. 
• Sucheta Kripalani, a prominent freedom fighter, became India’s first woman Chief Minister of the UP Government.
• Accamma Cherian, an inspirational leader of the freedom movement in Travancore, Kerala, she was given the name ‘Jhansi Rani of Tranvancore’ by Mahatma Gandhi. 
• Durgabai Deshmukh, a tireless worker for the emancipation of women in Andhra Pradesh, she was also an eminent freedom fighter and member of the Constituent Assembly. 
• Rani Gaidinliu, the Naga spiritual and political leader, led an armed uprising against the British in Manipur, Nagaland and Assam. 
• Usha Mehta was a freedom fighter from a very young age, who is remembered for organising an underground radio station during the Quit India Movement of 1942.
• Parbati Giri, one of Odisha’s most prominent women freedom fighters, was called the Mother Teresa of Western Odisha for her work in the upliftment of her people. 
• Tarkeshwari Sinha, a prominent freedom fighter during the Quit India Movement, went on to become an eminent politician in the early decades of independent India. 
• Snehlata Varma, a freedom fighter and tireless worker for the education and upliftment of women in Mewar, Rajasthan. 
• Tileshwari Baruah, one of India’s youngest martyrs, was shot at the age of 12 by the British, during the Quit India Movement, when she and some freedom fighters tried to unfurl the Tricolour atop a police station.

Source: PIB