Aruna was born on July 16, 1909 at a place called Kalka in Haryana (then Punjab). His father's name was Upendranath Ganguly and mother's name was Ambalika Devi. Aruna's sister Purnima Banerjee was a member of the Constituent Assembly. Aruna's early education took place at Sacred Heart Convent, Lahore and All Saint's College, Nainital. After graduation, he started teaching at Gokhale Memorial School, Calcutta. In 1928, he met Congress leader Asaf Ali. Both joined by marriage.
After her marriage to Asaf Ali, she became a member of the Indian National Congress and participated in public meetings during the Dandi Satyagraha. After his arrest in 1932, he was sent to Tihar Jail. Here he started a hunger strike over the abysmal treatment of political prisoners. His efforts changed the condition of Tihar Jail. Later he was sent to solitary confinement at Ambala. After his release from prison he remained inactive but in late 1942 he started underground activities and again became active in the freedom movement.
He became the Mayor of Delhi in 1958. He started Link Publications along with Narayanan and in the same year started publication of daily newspaper Patriot and weekly Link. The publication continued to gain prestige as a result of its patronage by leaders such as Jawaharlal Nehru, Krishna Menon and Biju Patnaik. He died on July 29, 1996 at the age of 87 in Delhi.
Aruna Asaf Ali was awarded the International Lenin Peace Prize in 1964 and the Jawaharlal Nehru Prize in 1991. In 1992, he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan and in 1997, India's highest civilian honor, the Bharat Ratna (posthumously). In 1998, a commemorative postage stamp of him was released by the Indian Postal Department.
