RAS question
Aruna Asaf Ali is remembered for hoisting the national flag at:
Correct answer: (C) Gowalia Tank Maidan, Bombay during Quit India Movement (1942).
Aruna Asaf Ali is remembered for hoisting the Indian National Flag at Gowalia Tank Maidan, Bombay, during the Quit India Movement in 1942.
Explanation
Aruna Asaf Ali is linked to Gowalia Tank Maidan, Bombay, now remembered as August Kranti Maidan, because she hoisted the Indian National Flag there on 9 August 1942, just after the Quit India resolution had been passed. The PIB account notes that the British had imprisoned the main freedom-struggle leadership on the night of 8 August, yet the flag hoisting at Gowalia Tank Maidan showed that the movement's spirit could not be suppressed. This is why the event is treated as a defining public act of the Quit India Movement. Her later underground role and her editing of Inquilab underline her continued participation after the flag-hoisting moment.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Red Fort is associated with the Prime Minister's Independence Day flag hoisting, not Aruna Asaf Ali's 1942 Quit India act.
- (B) Dandi Beach belongs to Gandhi's Salt March context, whereas Aruna Asaf Ali's remembered flag hoisting took place at Gowalia Tank Maidan in Bombay.
- (D) The Lahore Congress session is linked with Jawaharlal Nehru's flag hoisting, not with Aruna Asaf Ali's Quit India Movement role.
Concept
This tests the Modern Indian History theme of individual actions and symbols within mass movements. It recurs in RAS because the Quit India Movement is often asked through places, dates and leaders rather than only through resolutions.