- Asaf Ali
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Asaf Ali (May 11, 1888[1] – April 1, 1953) was an Indian independence fighter and noted Indian lawyer. He was the first ambassador from India to the United States. He also worked as the governor of Orissa.
Educated in the St. Stephen's College, Delhi, and called to bar from Lincoln's Inn in England, he entered the Indian independence movement and was imprisoned many times. In 1928, he married Aruna Ganguli, a marriage that raised eyebrows on the grounds of religion (Asaf Ali was a Muslim while Aruna was a Hindu) and age difference (Aruna was 22 years junior to him). He defended Shaheed Bhagad Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt as a lawyer, after they threw a bomb in the Central Legislative Assembly on April 8, 1929, during the passage of a controversial ordinance. He was elected in 1935 as a member of the Central Legislative Assembly from Delhi representing the Muslim Nationalist Party. He was re-elected as a Congress candidate against a Muslim League candidate. He worked as Deputy Leader of the Congress Party in the Assembly. In 1945, Ali came to be the convenor of the INA defence team established by the Congress for the defence of the officers of the INA charged with treason later in November 1945.
He was the minister in charge of the Railways and Transport in the interim Government of India from September 2, 1946 before serving as the first ambassador from India to the USA from February 1947 to mid-April, 1948. He was appointed the governor of Orissa, but he resigned from the post in May 1952 on health grounds. His last assignment was as India's minister to Switzerland, Austria and the Vatican; he died in office in Bern.
References
- ^ G. N. S. Raghavan and Asaf Ali, M. Asaf Ali's Memoirs: The Emergence of Modern India (Ajanta, 1994: ISBN 8120203984), p. 36.
External links
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activistsPuli Thevar · Yashwantrao Holkar · Rahul Sankrityayan · Swami Sahajanand Saraswati · Tipu Sultan · Veerapandiya Kattabomman · Sangolli Rayanna · Baba Ram Singh · Mangal Pandey · Rae Ahmed Nawaz Khan Kharal · Bakht Khan · Veer Kunwar Singh · Rani of Jhansi · Bahadur Shah Zafar · Swami Dayanand Saraswati · Bal Gangadhar Tilak · Gopal Krishna Gokhale · Dadabhai Naoroji · Bhikaiji Cama · Shyamji Krishna Varma · Annie Besant · Har Dayal · Subramanya Bharathi · Lala Lajpat Rai · Bipin Chandra Pal · Rash Behari Bose · Chittaranjan Das · Bidhan Chandra Roy · Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan · Maulana Azad · Ashfaqullah Khan · Ram Prasad Bismil · Chandrasekhar Azad · Rajaji · K. M. Munshi · Bhagat Singh · Sarojini Naidu · Achyut Patwardhan · Purushottam Das Tandon · Alluri Sitaramaraju · M. Ali Jinnah · Sardar Patel · Vakkom Majeed · Subhash Chandra Bose · Jawaharlal Nehru · Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi · Allama Mashriqi · Accamma Cherian · Swadeshabhimani Ramakrishna Pillai · Kotwal Dhan Singh Gurjar · V. K. Krishna Menon · A. J. John, Anaparambil · more
British leaders Independence Simla Conference · Cabinet Mission · Indian Independence Act · Partition of India · Political integration · Constitution · Republic of IndiaPolitical offices Preceded by
NoneIndian Ambassador to the United States
1947–1948Succeeded by
Vijaya Lakshmi PanditCategories:- 1888 births
- 1953 deaths
- Indian National Army trials
- Indian independence activists
- Indian politicians
- St. Stephen's College, Delhi alumni
- Indian civil servants
- Indian diplomats
- Indian Muslims
- People from Allahabad
- Governors of Orissa
- Ambassadors of India to the United States
- Members of Central Legislative Assembly of India
- Members of Constituent Assembly of India
- Indian lawyers
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