Background
On May 9, 1866, Gopal Krishna Gokhale was born in the Ratnagiri District of the Bombay Presidency into a poor but eminently respectable Chitapavan Brahmin family.
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Gopal Krishna Gokhale
Edit ProfileEducation
At age 18 he secured a bachelor's degree from Elphinstone College and joined the illustrious Deccan Education Society.
Career
At 22 Gokhale became secretary of the famous Sarvajanik Sabha, the leading political organization of Bombay. He also became a professor at Fergusson College and, in 1891, secretary of the Deccan Education Society.
In 1895 Gokhale was chosen secretary to the Indian National Congress. In the same year he was elected to the senate of Bombay University. He was 29 years old.
From 1898 to 1906 Gokhale was a member of the Poona Municipality and served as its president in 1902 and 1905.
In 1899 he was elected to the Bombay Legislative Council, in which he played a prominent role until his election to the Imperial Legislative Council in 1902.
In the Imperial Legislative Council, Gokhale demonstrated a breadth of knowledge as well as a painstaking mastery of all relevant details on pending legislation, which soon marked him as the most distinguished member of the Council. He was particularly noted for his impressive participation in the annual debate upon the budget.
The year 1905 saw Gokhale at the apex of his career. He was elected president of the Indian National Congress, and he founded the prestigious Servants of India Society, dedicated to advancement of the nation's welfare and to the "spiritualization" of politics. In the same year he was sent by the Congress on a special mission to England to air India's constitutional demands before British leaders. While there he had several important interviews with Lord Morley, secretary of state for India. In 1908 Gokhale was again deputed to visit England in connection with the impending Morley-Minto constitutional reforms of the government of India. In 1912 Gokhale visited South Africa, where he met Mohandas Gandhi in connection with Gandhi's campaign for rights for Indians. Gokhale also met with Gen. Jan Smuts to assist in securing a satisfactory agreement regarding the position of Indians. His involvement in so wide a range of public and legislative bodies and his strenuous commitment to the advancement of education had, however, worn him out, and he died in Poona on February 15, 1915.
Achievements
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Under Gokhale leadership Poona Municipality was effectively reformed and democratized.
He also founded the famed Servants of India Society. The Society took up the cause of promoting Indian education in earnest, and among its many projects organised mobile libraries, founded schools, and provided night classes for factory workers.
Politics
Gokhale campaigned for Indian self-rule and social reform and led the moderate nationalists in the early years of the Indian independence movement.
He opposed the ill-treatment of untouchables, or low-caste Hindus, and also took up the cause of impoverished Indians living in South Africa.
Views
Quotations: "The Servants of India Society will train men prepared to devote their lives to the cause of country in a religious spirit, and will seek to promote, by all constitutional means, the national interests of the Indian people. "
Connections
Gokhale married twice - in 1880 and in 1887. His second wife died after giving birth to two daughters in 1899. Gokhale did not marry again and his children were looked after by his relations
References
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Born
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Died
February 15, 1915 (aged 48) -
Nationality
Indian -
Religion
Hinduism -
Political Party
Indian National Congress