Before the emergence of Mahatma Gandhi as a prominent nationalist leader, two schools of thought appeared in the course of the freedom struggle. They were mainly known as the extremists and moderates, in which the early phase of the freedom struggle was dominated by moderate thinkers.
Leaders like Dadabhai Naoroji, D.E. Wacha, Justice M.G. Ranade, Pherozeshah Mehta laid the foundations of liberal political thinking in the Indian Freedom Struggle. The moderate thinkers advocated a round but gradual social progress and stood for a liberal political point of view and were significantly different from leaders who had an extremist approach to attaining independence.
One of the major intellectual moderates was Gopal Krishna Gokhale who, like other moderates perceived that the British rule in India would set in the process of modernization of Indian society. He appreciated and welcomed the British rule and insisted more on economic and social reforms.
His political thoughts revolved around socio-political issues and gave more importance to national unity and expressed strong resentment amongst racial discrimination employed by the British government. Even though initially he was with the colonial rule but gradually felt disconnected with it seeing their unjust rules imposed on Indians. Gokhale is counted among the political leaders who protested the British administration in our country for its freedom.
Gopal Krishna Gokhale's Early Life
Gopal Krishna Gokhale was born to a middle class Chitpavan Brahman family on 9th May 1866 at Kotluk village, Guhagar taluka in Ratnagiri district, Maharashtra. Even though his family was not financially sound, they ensured to get a good education for their children. His father was initially a clerk but rose to the position of sub-inspector of police and died when Gokhale was only thirteen years old leaving behind six children.
Gokhale completed his matriculation in 1881 at Kagal near Kolhapur. He had his higher education from three different institutions from Rajaram College, Kolhapur, the Deccan College, Pune and the Elphinstone College, Bombay, completing in the year 1884. His education had a tremendous influence on the course of his future career as he was exposed to Western political thought and admired theorists John Stuart Mill and Edmund Burke. After completing his graduation, he went on to become a teacher at the New English School under the inspiration of Vishnu Shastri Chiplunkar.
The proprietors of the Deccan Education Society were quite impressed by him and promoted him to the post of a lecturer at Fergusson College in Pune where he devoted almost eighteen years of his life.
During his teaching career, the social works of Justice Mahadev Govind Ranade had a profound impact on him and he also contributed his services and talents to the cause of public life. M.G. Ranade gave Gokhale the position of the secretary at his public body- Sarvajanik Sabha, to articulate the interests of the common people. He also contributed to Gopal Ganesh Agarkar's journal Sudharak.
Gokhale's Political Activities
Indian National Congress
Gokhale joined Congress in the year 1889 and since then became a regular speaker at the Indian National Congress. In 1994 he along with Bal Gangadhar Tilak, became the joint secretary of the INC. Two years later in 1896, Ranade and Gokhale disassociated from the Sarvajanik Sabha and founded the new association, Deccan Sabha as Tilak and his associates had captured the former one.
The Deccan Sabha gave Gokhale enough opportunities to show his commitment to India's independence. He was sent on his first trip to England to suggest ways of equitable distribution of expenses between Indian and British governments to the Welby Commission. His performance raised a lot of expectations, owing to which he was elected to the Bombay Legislative Council in 1899.
After retiring from Fergusson College in 1902, he devoted himself entirely to his political work and made a mark as an eminent Parliamentarian. During this period, he was elected to the Imperial Legislative Council and delivered budget-speeches that were critical of the British government's fiscal policies.
The Establishment Of The Servants Of India Society
Gopal Krishna Gokhale established the Servants of India Society in 1905 to expand Indian education as he believed that true political change in India could only be brought about when the new Indian generation is educated along with being aware of its patriotic duty.
According to him the existing educational institutions and Indian Civil Code did not provide enough political education and to fill this gap he came with the idea to establish the Servants of Indian Society. The Society took up the cause by organizing mobile libraries, providing night classes for factory workers, founding schools to promote Indian education in earnest. It was an effort from Gokhale to shift from high political level to the grassroots level which was the embodiment of his ideals and principles for developing the nation and its people.
Gokhale's Education Bill of 1911
As a member of the Legislative Council, Gokhale proposed the primary education in 1910 as he believed that being uneducated was the biggest evil of the Indian society. The important clauses made by him were
Compulsory primary education must be given free in the area where 35% of boys are receiving education within the age group of 6-10 years.
The expenditure on education must be shared by the local bodies and provincial government in a ratio of 1:2.
The right to levy tax on educational bodies must be given to the discretion of local bodies.
The Governor General of the school must fix a percentage of attendance for the students to increase their involvement in coming to school.
A secretary must be given the duty to organize and supervise after primary education.
Guardians who have an income of less than Rupees 10 must be exempted from paying the fees.
Compulsory primary education is intended for boys first which later on can be extended to girls if the local body permits.
The Education Bill was taken up for discussion in the Legislative Council and was defeated 35 votes to 13 as there was no popular demand among Indians to carry out primary education and neither were the local bodies in support of it or willing to pay education cess.
The Clash Between The Extremists And Moderates
The 1907 session of the Indian National Congress in Surat saw the split into two different factions namely, the Extremists and the Moderates who shared a common goal but their approach was completely different and had major ideological differences.
The moderates were supporters of liberalism and believed that the colonials would eventually comprehend Indian citizens and would work on improving their lives while the extremists strongly opposed the British rule on India and believed that they hardly bothered about Indian lives.
Both Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Bal Gangadhar Tilak were high-ranking political leaders but belonged to two different schools of thought. Gokhale was a moderate while Tilak was an extremist and their ideological difference was quite apparent.
The tussle of these schools of thought became prominent in the 1907 Surat INC session when Tilak wanted to put Lala Lajpat Rai in the position of President while Gokhale was in favor of Rash Behari Das. Soon the fight took an ugly turn and changed to a physical scuffle where Aurobindo Ghosh and his associates flung shoes, sticks, and umbrellas at the platform and chairs were broken. The eye witness Manchester Guardian records that Gokhale went to the dais to protect Tilak who was being attacked by his co-members. After the end of the session, the INC was divided into two pieces.
In 1908 when Bal Gangadhar Tilak was arrested on the charge of sedition, it gave opportunity to the members of Moderates to set their feet as Tilak was sent to Mandalay for six long years. They had a different opinion of the Age Consent Bill introduced by the British government in 1891-92. Gokhale and his associates supported the bill which increased the age of legal marriage of girls from ten to twelve but Tilak objected to the bill as he saw it as an interference of the British government with the Hindu traditions. This law however became a law in the Bombay Presidency.
Tilak heavily criticized the spread of Western education and glorified ancient Indian culture while Gokhale appreciated the ideas of equality across genders and liberty in Western education and criticized Indian society for evils like Sati and inequality towards specific gender, and caste hierarchy among others. Tilak was in favor of complete independence from the British while Gokhale believed in justice and equality by the government. Even though both the leaders had stark differences in their thoughts and approach, they had great respect for each other's sacrifice, contributions, and patriotism. Tilak had even paid tributes to Gokhale in his editorial, Kesari.
Gokhale's Contribution To The Struggle Of Indians In South Africa
The story of Indians' Struggle in South Africa began when they entered the land as indentured laborers in the 1830s. The British government imported laborers to South Africa and were bound for five years as their employers and after the expiry of the year term they could either work as free laborers, settle there, or return to their home in India.
However, some of the Indians who did not have enough money or could not go back to their country for some reason were perceived as nuisances to the British government in South Africa. They were referred to as indentured laborers (whose five year term had expired).
The indentured laborers were heavily taxed and were subjected to humiliating racial limitations such as presenting registration certificates while moving to another city.
Gokhale went to South Africa on the invitation of Mahatma Gandhi to guide him on the issues confronted by the Indians in the foreign land. In 1910, he successfully ended indentured migration in Natal by presenting a resolution and discussing the issue in the Imperial Legislative Council. In 1910 he moved the resolution for the prohibition of Indentured labor but it could not be succeeded. His social activities drew the attention of British sympathizers to the issues of India and its people.
Gokhale's Economic And Social Ideas
Gopal Krishna Gokhale was not an economist in the true sense but his economic ideas constitute a large part of his political thinking. Influenced by M.G. Ranade who was opposed to free trade in India, Gokhale studied Indian finance carefully from 1874-1909 and divided it into four phases, and concluded that India's expenditure was more than its revenue growth.
He also observed that during the British Raj the agricultural industry in India was facing a crisis and undergoing serious depression and stated that crop yield per acre was very low because there was no help provided to the Indian farmers in terms of finance or technology. He believed that unless the farmers are not exposed to technological and scientific advancement, it is not possible to imagine agricultural prosperity.
He was also aware of the heavy taxes imposed on farmers, especially on cotton farmers and cotton textile merchants who went into debt in the process of paying excise duty to the British government. Gokhale stood for industrial development but not at the cost of sweeping the local farmers, artisans, or industries. He stated that a judicious system must be employed to safeguard these small industries while building bigger ones, thus paving the way for capitalist development.
Even in the realm of social reforms, Gokhale sided with Ranade who was of the opinion that the legal age for marriage must be increased for both boys and girls, no remarriage after the age of 60, prohibition of polygamy, and not more than a year's money must be spent on marriage ceremonies. He suggested compulsory free education and strongly prohibited the sale of liquor and other health-hazardous consumables that came in the way of developing the society. Gokhale played a leading role in bringing Morley-Minto reforms which would form the basis of constitutional reforms in India. Through his social reforms, his liberal outlook can be observed which according to him attaches greater importance to an individual.
Response To British Raj In India And His Involvement With The Government
Gokhale initially appreciated the British rule in India initially like other Moderates, which was mainly of two reasons- firstly, he perceived the modernization of Western education to be good for the deeply culturally rooted Indian society and other, their sense of equality irrespective of gender and caste.
The political integration set in by the British was believed to be the onset of the development of education, commerce, politics, etc. He was in fact convinced that if British rule continued in India, it would bring modernity and prosperity to the nation and would be on par with other developed nations.
But, gradually he realized that the British government was mooching off all the wealth from the country and had no intention of doing good. He was not completely satisfied with the British Raj and became a bitter critic of the Curzon's administration. Gokhale was not primarily concerned with complete independence but rather with social reforms. This is why he worked closely with the British government to build reforms in favor of Indian society,
which made him a great enemy of the members belonging to the extremist clan who were demanding Swaraj. He was elected to the Bombay Legislative Council in 1899 and to the Imperial Council of the Governor-General of India in 1901 and 1903 as a non-officiating member as a representative of Bombay Province.
As A Mentor To Mahatma Gandhi
In his autobiography, 'My Experiments With Truth' Gandhi calls Gopal Krishna Gokhale as his mentor who shaped his formative years and recognized him as a great politician and admirable leader. He impacted Gandhiji in many ways and played a significant role in putting him to the forefront of the freedom struggle. While in South Africa, he invited Gokhale to assist him in the proceedings relating to the struggle of indentured laborers in South Africa and also recalls that he used to write recommendation letters for Gandhi to several lawyers in Bombay to get him a job.
In 1910, when Gokhale proposed the Natal Indentured Labor Bill, it facilitated a legal framework and pillar for Gandhi's struggle in the foreign land. After Gandhi came to India as a young barrister in 1915, Gokhale acted as a guide and mentor to him. When he decided to establish Sabarmati Ashram, Gokhale organized funds for him and massively contributed to his political sphere. He as a mentor to Gandhi helped him to visualize and spiritualize politics by introducing morality and goodness in it.
The End Of A Great Liberal
Gopal Krishnan Gokhale died on 19th February 1915 leaving behind his legacy of greatness who fought his life to bring about social changes in the country. A precursor of Gandhi, he influenced several national leaders like him who gave their lives for the protection of India and made it independent. It is not wrong to say that Gokhale laid the foundation of constitutionalism, and capitalist development, and worked towards the enhancement of the dignity of an individual. And thus a great modernizer of Indian society in every sense.
Note for UPSC Aspirants: For UPSC aspirants interested in exploring further, here are some keywords to guide your research:Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Indian freedom struggle, moderates, extremists, political ideologies, social reforms, mentorship, Mahatma Gandhi.
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