Aruna & Asaf Ali - Organiser (Readers Forum)

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Aruna Asaf Ali, nee Ganguli, was a brave and resourceful
revolutionary patriot. Her dauntless deeds in the Quit
India movement of 1942 have given her an imperishable
reputation. Her death recently at the ripe age of 87
marked the end of a dedicated life.

But what about her husband, the late Asaf Ali, who was
touted as a fervently nationalist Moslem? Was he also a
dedicated patriot like his single minded Hindu wife? Did
he deserve the trust and honour bestowed on him? Alas,
no! Asaf Ali not really at that at heart. He had been
made a member of the Congress Working Committee shortly
before the Quite India movement was launched in August
1942. He thus found himself in a pivotal position at a
critical time. The British colonialist regime in New
Delhi made discrete approaches to him to disclose the
Congress plans. To their astonishment and delight, Asaf
Ali at once responded to the overtures of the British.
His nationalism was only a pretence. At heart, he was
otherwise. He was Jinnah's man. Asaf Ali's treachery was
kept a close secret even after India became Independent
in 1947. It was part of Nehru's strategy of wooing Moslem
communalists as a vote-bank for his projected dynastic
regime. Instead of hanging Asaf Ali for betraying the
nationalist cause in 1942, Jawaharlal Nehru as Prime
Minister sent him off to the USA as India's first envoy.
In Washington, almost the first thing that Asaf Ali did
was to divert a ship-load of US arms meant for India to
Pakistan to aid it in Kashmir. It is doubtful if Aruna
was aware at that time what her husband was doing on the
sly. But the fact was made known when the memoirs of
Maxwell Zinkin, a top Home Department official in the
British regime, were published. Sir Maxwell, as he later
became, was Asaf Ali's secret paymaster during 1942. His
wife Taya Zinkin was correspondent for the London Times.

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