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Gopal Krishna Gokhale (1866 - 1915)
Gokhale was born on 9th May 1866 in Kotluk in District Ratnagiri in modern-day Maharashtra to Krishna Rao Gokhale and his wife Valubai.
He first went to school in Kolhapur and then to Bombay for higher education. He secured his graduate degree from Bombay’s Elphinstone College in the year 1884.
He worked in Pune as a school teacher. He later taught political economy and history at Fergusson College, Pune and also became the institution’s principal in 1902.
In 1889, Gokhale joined the Indian National Congress motivated by his mentor, social reformer M G Ranade.
He was of the leaders of the moderate bloc of the Indian National Congress and Mahatma Gandhi’s political mentor.
He did not believe in radical demands altogether and wished for peaceful and non-confrontationist methods to acquire rights and privileges from the government.
This is where he came into conflict with the extremist faction of the INC, especially Bal Gangadhar Tilak.
Gokhale believed in working with the colonial government to bring about social reforms in the society.
He was voted to the Legislative Council of Bombay in 1899, and also to the Governor-General’s Imperial Council in 1901.
In 1905, Gokhale established the Servants of India Society for expanding education to Indians. He arranged mobile libraries and schools. He also gave night classes to industrial workers.
Gokhale visited Mahatma Gandhi in South Africa in 1912, who returned to India at Gokhale’s request.
In Gandhi’s autobiography, he writes of Gokhale, “pure as crystal, gentle as a lamb, brave as a lion and chivalrous to a fault and the most perfect man in the political field.”
Gokhale also started newspapers, ‘Mahratta’ and ‘Gnanaprakash’.
He died on 19 February, 1915 aged 48.
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