The man whom Mahatma Gandhi referred to as his political guru was none other than the spirited Gopal Krishna Gokhale. Born in the district of Ratnagiri (Maharashtra) in 1866, Gokhale graduated from Elphinstone College in Bombay in 1884 and secured the job of a teacher in the New English School at Poona.

The most momentous event of his life was to occur when he was teaching as a professor at the Fergusson College. He came in association with Justice Mahadev Govind Ranade who motivated Gokhale to devote himself to the Indian freedom struggle.

In 1890 Gokhale was made the Secretary of the Sarvajanik Sabha, an organisation represent­ing the aspirations of the people, by his guru, Ranade. Six years later, they formed the Deccan Sabha that aimed at welfare activities such as providing relief during famines and the attack of the plague, land reform work and local self-govern­ment. Gokhale became the Deccan Sabha’s first Secretary.

Gokhale began to assume many other prestigious ap­pointments. He placed before the Royal Commission (Welby Commission) in England 186-page evidence explaining how his country was suffering both financial and administrative mismanagement at the hands of the British.

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After becoming a representative of the municipalities of the Central Division of Bombay Presidency in 1899, he called for relief work to save the peasantry who were suffering as a result of the famine. Vehemently attacking the Land Alienation Bill that allowed the administration to take over lands in case of unpaid dues, Gokhale suggested the establishing of cooperative credit banks and banks for land mortgage as an alternative.

He was also dead against plans for communal representation in the munic­ipalities. After becoming a member of the Imperial Legislative Council in 1901, Gokhale pursued issues such as rural pover­ty, education, taxation, defence expenditure and the duty on salt with much vigour.

Gokhale, in 1889, entered the Indian National Congress which sent him to England in 1905 to inform the English public of the oppressive nature of the British rule in India. He also presided over the National Congress meeting at Banaras in 1905. In the same year, he founded the Servants of India Society to train workers who could enthusiastically dedicate themselves to serving the nation.