Vision Academy EducareVision Academy Educare
Question 42 of 66 · Gandhian Era & Struggle for Independence
Questioneasy
This question was previously asked in

SSC

During the Quit India Movement, the Indian national flag was hoisted at the Gowalia Tank Maidan in Bombay on 9 August 1942, after the arrest of the top leaders, by:

Answer View answer ▾

Answer: Option C — Aruna Asaf Ali

Detailed Solution

On 9 August 1942, after the arrest of Gandhi and the other top leaders of the Congress early that morning, Aruna Asaf Ali hoisted the national flag at the Gowalia Tank Maidan in Bombay, where the All-India Congress Committee had met the day before.

The event:

  • A large crowd had gathered at the maidan for the scheduled flag-hoisting.
  • Aruna Asaf Ali, then 33 years old, came forward and hoisted the flag, defying the police.
  • The police fired tear gas at the crowd.
  • This act made her a heroine of the Quit India Movement, and she was called the "Grand Old Lady of the Independence Movement" in later years.

Her underground activities:

  • After this, she went underground to avoid arrest, and helped to lead the movement from hiding, along with socialist leaders such as Jayaprakash Narayan, Ram Manohar Lohia and Achyut Patwardhan.
  • She edited the Congress monthly "Inquilab" along with Ram Manohar Lohia.
  • The government announced a reward of 5,000 rupees for her capture, and confiscated her property, but she did not surrender.
  • She came out of hiding only in 1946, after the warrant against her was withdrawn.

About Aruna Asaf Ali:

  • She was born in 1909 at Kalka (in present-day Haryana), in a Bengali Brahmo family (her maiden name was Aruna Ganguly).
  • She married Asaf Ali, a Congress leader, in 1928.
  • She took part in the Salt Satyagraha and was imprisoned.
  • After Independence, she was the first Mayor of Delhi (1958).
  • She was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize (1964), the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding (1991), and the Bharat Ratna (posthumously, 1997).

Other women of the Quit India Movement:

  • Usha Mehta ran the underground "Congress Radio" from Bombay.
  • Sucheta Kripalani worked underground and later became the first woman Chief Minister of an Indian state (Uttar Pradesh, 1963).

Why not the other options?

  • ✗Usha Mehta ran the secret radio.
  • ✗Sucheta Kripalani worked underground.
  • ✗Sarojini Naidu was arrested with the other leaders.

Quick tip

Remember: Aruna Asaf Ali hoisted the flag at Gowalia Tank Maidan on 9 August 1942 ("Grand Old Lady of the Independence Movement"; first Mayor of Delhi; Bharat Ratna 1997).

💬 Discussions on this question

Ask a doubt ›

Still stuck on this question? Ask our faculty and fellow students — answers appear here.

Ask a doubt

More Gandhian Era & Struggle for Independence Questions

View all ›
  1. Q1.The Quit India Movement was launched by Mahatma Gandhi on:
  2. Q2.Who started the secret Congress Radio during the Quit India Movement?
  3. Q3.The Bardoli Satyagraha of 1928 was led by:
  4. Q4.The Harijan Sevak Sangh was founded in 1932 by:
  5. Q5.Rabindranath Tagore renounced his knighthood in protest against:

More General Knowledge Questions

  1. Q1.The techniques of Rasa and Bhava used in Indian classical dance trace their origin to which ancient text?Indian Dance Forms
  2. Q2.Lavani, Powada, Koli, Waghya Murali and Dhangari Gaja are folk dances of which state?Indian Dance Forms
  3. Q3.The one-act play associated with the Sattriya tradition of Assam is called:Indian Dance Forms
  4. Q4.Which dance form of Goa is known as the 'Warrior Dance'?Indian Dance Forms
  5. Q5.Manipuri dance is based on the Rasleela themes of:Indian Dance Forms

Gandhian Era & Struggle for Independence — Preparation

This question tests your understanding of Gandhian Era & Struggle for Independence, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.

This topic covers the freedom struggle from Gandhi's return to India in 1915 to independence in 1947: the Champaran, Kheda and Ahmedabad movements, the Rowlatt Act and Jallianwala Bagh, the Non-Cooperation, Civil Disobedience and Quit India movements, the Round Table Conferences, the Cripps Mission, the Cabinet Mission and the partition of India. Most questions ask about the year, cause or result of a movement, or the event that ended it. For example, the Chauri Chaura incident (1922) led Gandhi to call off the Non-Cooperation Movement, and the Dandi March (1930) started the Civil Disobedience Movement. Learning these events on a timeline is the best way to avoid confusion. Practise the Gandhian era questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.

‹ All Gandhian Era & Struggle for Independence questionsBrowse all topics ›