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.
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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.
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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
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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.
