Gopal
Krishna Gokhale is now a forgotten man even though both M.K. Gandhi and M.A.
Jinnah were inspired by him in the years before they became mass leaders.
Gandhi described Gokhale as his political guru while Jinnah aspired to be the
Muslim Gokhale.
However, the importance of Gokhale goes far beyond his influence on
these two star disciples, who continue to be worshipped as the fathers of their
respective nations. He was the lodestar of a style of liberal politics that
needs a fresh airing in contemporary India.
Gokhale
died on 19 February 1915, so this year marks his death centenary. He was one of
a stellar cast of patriots in Pune, at a time when that city matched Kolkata as
a crucible of the new nationalism which emerged from the ruins of 1857.
The Pune liberals had three principal concerns: political freedom,
social reform and economic development. Everything they did in public life followed from their quest to
advance liberty on these three fronts, and thus prepare the ground for a
resurgent India after centuries of foreign rule, social oppression and economic
stagnation.
The Pune liberals firmly
believed that politics should have intellectual and moral foundations. Gokhale
as well as his guru M.G. Ranade were a perfect embodiment of that rare combination
of head and heart, as is evident in their careful empirical analysis and policy
prescriptions in the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha, the house journal of the liberals,
on everything from indebted farmers to the spread of education.
Gokhale’s grasp of economics was evident in his famous budget speeches as a member of the
Imperial Legislative Council, when he took the colonial government to task
because its policies were damaging India; no less a person than John
Maynard Keynes praised his mastery of economic logic. He was also a great
lover of mathematics; a textbook on arithmetic that he wrote was a standard
prescription for school children for many years. The precision of his thinking
could perhaps be explained by his love of mathematics, the most precise of
intellectual pursuits. And Gokhale was also a very popular professor of
history.
Such
intellectual depth was matched by a compassionate heart. He attracted young
nationalists who wanted to serve the country. Gokhale had no shortage of critics who thought,
with some justification, that he trusted the good sense of the colonial
government too much. His personal record was also marred by a controversial
apology to the British government. Yet, it is a testimony to his personal
qualities that criticism did not degenerate into personal enmity. His great
political rival Bal Gangadhar Tilak wrote a moving obituary when Gokhale died
at the young age of 49. V.D. Savarkar is said to have stood up in his favour when a group
of revolutionaries in London wanted to assassinate Gokhale. Men
who held views that were antithetical to his could still be impressed by
Gokhale.
The
liberal constitutionalism that Gokhale stood for was swept aside by the rising
tide of agitational politics after 1920. Ironically, the two men who were
responsible for this great shift were Gokhale’s disciples, Gandhi and Jinnah.
Politics based on the inner voice, satyagraha and direct action replaced the
reasoned politics of Gokhale, with its rare blend of the intellectual and
moral. The quest to draw more people into the national movement compromised
some of its core values embodied by Gokhale.
That style of street politics has lingered on in India well after
independence. B.R. Ambedkar had warned in 1949 that the continuance of
agitational politics in a constitutional republic would eventually harm the
Indian nation, as would the unthinking devotion to great leaders as well as
persistent social inequality rooted in centuries of caste oppression. His
perspicacious warning was unfortunately ignored.
India right now is perhaps on the cusp of political change. A young,
urban and prosperous class has emerged after three decades of rapid economic
growth. It could provide a base for a new liberal politics. There are important
differences between contemporary India and the country that Gokhale served with
such dedication. But his core beliefs about the importance of political
liberty, social reform and economic progress for all Indians are still relevant
to our times. So is his insistence that means are as important as ends in
politics, and that politics should have strong intellectual foundations.
Liberal
constitutionalism had its high noon when Gokhale personified its lofty hopes.
It was swept away by the rising tide of populism after the Gandhian takeover of
the Congress in 1920. A hundred years later, the main concerns that Gokhale
articulated are still relevant. They can offer fresh direction to a country
that is once again at the crossroads.
Factual Data with respect to GK Gokhale
- Gopal Krishna Gokhale was born on May 9, 1866 in Kothapur, Maharashtra. He graduated from Elphinstone College, Bombay in 1884 at the age of 18.
- He was Assistant Master in the New English School in Pune.
- One of the founding members of Fergusson College.
- He was also a social reformer.
- Gokhale worked with Mahadev Govind Ranade(Gokhale called him his guru) in Poona Sarvajanik Sabha of which Gokhale became the Secretary.
- Gokhale became Secretary of the Deccan Education Society.
- Political guru of Mahatma Gandhi; one of the pioneers of the Indian national movement; founder of the Servants of India Society.
- Gokhale pleaded for gradual reforms to ultimately attain Swaraj, or self-government, in India. Gokhale was a mentor to Mahatma Gandhi and Jinnah.
- In his autobiography, Gandhi calls Gokhale his mentor and guide
Achievements:
- He delivered a public address on "India under the British Rule", which was highly appreciated.
- Gokhale regularly contributed articles to Bal Gangadhar Tilak's weekly "Mahratta".
- In 1905, Gokhale started a new society called "Servants of India Society".
- Gokhale went to England to voice his concerns relating to the unfair treatment of the Indian people by the British government.
- He founded the "Servants of India Society"-an organization dedicated to the cause of common people.
