Question

Who has been called as the ‘Heroine’ of the 1942 Quit India Movement?
1. Annie Besant
2. Sucheta Kriplani
3. Sarojini Naidu
4. Aruna Asaf Ali

Answer 1

Hint:
In August 1942, The All India Congress Committee passed the Quit India Movement.
She was born to a Bengali-Brahmo family in 1909 in Kalka, Punjab.
She declared the commencement of the Quit India Movement on 9th August 1942.

Complete answer:
Aruna Ganguly was born to a Bengali-Brahmo family in 1909 in Kalka, Punjab (present day Haryana). She completed her schooling in Lahore and her college in Nainital. She married Asaf Ali (who was a leader in a Congress Party) in 1928. Then she also became a member of the Indian National Congress. She was an active participant in the processions during Salt Satyagraha. She was also arrested, claiming that she was a vagrant. She was held captive in the Tihar Jail and then in a prison in Ambala. When she was released, she was not very active politically but was very active in an underground movement to overthrow the British.
The Quit India Movement
In August 1942, The All India Congress Committee passed the Quit India Movement. The British government agitated by this, arrested major leaders and all members of the Congress Working Committee and tried to prevent the movement from succeeding. Because major leaders were arrested, Aruna Asaf Ali had to preside over the remainder of the session. She hoisted the Congress flag at the Gowalia Tank Maidan in Bombay and declared the commencement of the Quit India Movement on 9^th August 1942. The British police even open-fired upon the assembly. It was due to this act of bravery that she is remembered as the ‘Heroine’ of the Quit India Movement.
An arrest warrant was issued on her name, and she again went underground. Her properties were seized and sold by the government. The government also announced a Rs 5000 award for anyone who would capture her. Mahatma Gandhi, hand-wrote a note to her asking her to not stay underground and surrender herself. She came out of her hiding in 1946, when the government had withdrawn the warrant against her.

1. Annie Besant: This option is incorrect. She was a British writer. She was known as the “Champion of Human Freedom” because she was a strong supporter of freedom in India and Ireland.

2. Sucheta Kriplani: This option is incorrect. She was the first female chief minister in India and served the Uttar Pradesh Government.

3. Sarojini Naidu: This option is incorrect. She was a poet and political activist, and she earned the sobriquet ‘Nightingale of India’ by Mahatma Gandhi.

Thus, the correction answer is option 4. Aruna Asaf Ali


Note:
After independence first, she was part of the Congress Party and later she joined the Socialist Party (after seeing Congress Party’s progress on socialism).
She helped in the formation of the women’s wing in the Communist Party of India in 1956. It was called the National Federation of Indian Women.
She was also elected as the First Mayor of Delhi in 1958.