Asaf Ali, Aruna

Asaf Ali, Aruna

 

Born 1909. Indian political and public figure.

In her youth Asaf Ali participated actively in the national liberation movement. In 1928 she joined the Indian National Congress. She was twice imprisoned by the English colonial authorities. In 1947 and 1948 she headed the Delhi provincial committee of the Congress, and she was mayor of Delhi in 1958 and 1959. She is one of the founders of the movement for the emancipation of women in India. Since 1963, Asaf Ali has been executive president of the Indian Institute for Afro-Asian Solidarity and since 1965 vice president of the Indian-Soviet Society for the Development of Cultural Relations. She was awarded the International Lenin Prize for Strengthening Peace Between Nations (1965).