Gopal Krishna Gokhle

            Gopal Krishna Gokhale was one of the forerunners of the Indian Independence Movement. Gokhale was a senior leader of the Indian National Congress. He was one of the most learned men in the country during his time, a leader of socio-political reforms and among the most influential leaders of the Indian National Congress. Being one of the first generation of Indians to receive college education, Gokhale was respected widely in the Indian intellectual community. He was founder of the Servants of India Society which was dedicated to inspire nationalistic feelings among his fellow countrymen. During his political career, Gokhale campaigned for self-rule and also stressed the need of social reform. Within the Congress, he led the moderate faction of the party that was in favour of reforms by working and co-operating with existing government institutions and machinery.

       

       

 Gokhle in Kothluk in Ratnagiri District, Maharastra to parents Krishna Rao and Valubai. His father was a clerk who had to give up farming due to poor soil conditions. Gokhale received his early education at Rajaram High School in Kothapur and later, in 1884 moved to Bombay to receive higher education.

Gokhale was reportedly one of the first Indians to complete graduation. In 1884, after his graduation in arts at the Elphinstone College, Bombay, Gokhale moved to Poona to take up a teaching job at a school. He later joined as professor of history and political economy at the Fergusson College, Poona. He remained on the staff, finally as principal, until 1902. 

He met his mentor Mahadev Govind Ranade, a renowned scholar and jurist, in Poona. He started working with Ranade in the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha of which he later became the Secretary. He regarded Mahadev Govinda Ranade as his "Guru". Ranade helped Gokhale in establishing the "Servants of India Society" in 1905. The main objective of this society was to train Indians to raise their voice against social evils and and serve their country. Gokhale also worked with Ranade in a quarterly Journal, called "Sarvajanik". The Journal wrote about the public questions of the day in a frank and fearless manner. 

He married Savitribai in 1880. Savitribai was frail and suffered from congenital ailment. Gokhale remarried in 1887. His second wife died in 1900 and Gokhale did not remarry after that. He had two daughters with his second wife, Kashibai and Godubai.

            

Under mentorship of Ranade, Gopal Krishna Gokhale became a member of Indian National Congress in 1889. He got actively involved with the Indian National Congress, and was the joint secretary for some years and in 1905, he was elected the president at the Benares session of the Congress. The higher education made Gokhale understand the importance of liberty, democracy and parliamentary system of the government.

Gokhale was the secretary of the "Reception Committee" of the 1895 Poona session of the Indian National Congress. From this session, Gokhale became a prominent face of the Indian National Congress. For a while, Gokhale was a member of the Bombay Legislative Council where he spoke strongly against the then Government. In 1901, he was initiated into the Imperial Council of the Governor General of India. In the sessions he rallied for the salt taxes and taxes on cotton goods to be reduced, he sought free primary education for Indians as well as absorption of more numbers of Indian in the Civil Services.