Aruna Asaf Ali
A commemorative postage stamp on the Birth Anniversary of Aruna Ganguly, Delhi’s first mayor in 1958 :
Issued by India
Issued on Jul 16, 1998
Issued for : The Department of Posts is happy to issue a commemorative stamp on Aruna Asaf Ali.
Credits :
Stamp : Sankha Samanta
FDC & Cancellation : Alka Sharma
Type : Stamp, Postal Used
Colour : Single Colour
Denomination : 300 Paise
Overall Size : 3.91 x 2.90 Cms.
Printing Size : 3.91 x 2.90 Cms.
Perforation : 13 x 13
Paper : Imported un w/m Adhesive Gravure Coated stamp Paper in sheets 50.8 x 53.5 cms.
Stamps Printed : 0.4 Million
Number per issue sheet : 35
Printing Process : Photogravure
Printer : India Security Press, Nashik
Name : Aruna Ganguly
Born on Jul 16, 1909 at Kalka, Punjab, British India
Died on Jul 29, 1996 at New Delhi, India
About :
- Aruna Asaf Ali was born in 1909 at Kalka in Haryana, in a Bengali family of distinguished Brahmo-samaj lineage. She married Asaf Ali, a prominent lawyer of Delhi against convention. Very active in the National struggle for independence, she participated in the Civil Disobedience Movement in 1930’s and went to jail. In 1941, when Gandhiji started individual satyagraha against British war effort, she courted arrest.
- The Quit India Movement, 1942, was a turning point in her life. Following the arrest of all prominent Congress leaders, Aruna went underground and sought to build up an underground centre to guide the movement. She toured Calcutta, Bombay and Delhi evading police and made heroic efforts to re-group the forces after the collapse of the movement in 1943. During this period she became a symbol of spirit of the youth of the country. She remained underground till 1946, when the warrant of arrest against her was withdrawn.
- Aruna was elected President of Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee in 1947. However, in 1948 she joined the Socialist group and took an active interest in the trade union movement. In 1955 this group merged with Communist Party of India and she became a member of its Central Committee and a Vice President of the All India Trade Union Congress. In 1958 she left the Communist Party of India and was elected Delhi‘s first Mayor. She re-joined the Congress party in 1964 but ceased to play any active part in politics.
- Aruna Asaf Ali, selfless, sensitive and emotional, charming in her manners, radical in her views, belonged to the heroic age of India’s freedom movement. She could not adjust herself with political realities when that heroic age was over and finally chose to live in retirement in New Delhi, till her death on 29th July, 1996. She was awarded the Lenin prize for peace in 1975 and the Jawahar Lal Nehru award for International understanding for 1991.
[…] the first non-cooperation movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi in the early twenties. When he and Aruna Ganguly married in 1928, the event with its symbolic significance caused a stir and drew wide public […]
[…] and released in 1931 on account of Gandhi-lrwin Pact. In 1942, he went underground and worked with Smt. Aruna Asaf Ali and Shri Jugal Kishore Khanna. He was arrested again on September 17, 1942 and tried on various […]
[…] won MCD elections in 1958 and was elected the first Deputy Mayor of Delhi along with Smt. Aruna Asaf Ali, who was the first Mayor. He was again elected Deputy Mayor of Delhi in 1961. In the year 1962, he […]