Gokhale always defended the interest of the Indians in the Legislative council.
In 1903, N.D. Arundale proposed an amendment in 1899-Government Secrets Act.
Gokhale fiercely opposed the proposal.
The Act had been passed by British House of Commons and was meant to be applied in all British colonies. In original form it was applicable to military secrets only. But the amendment could make it applicable to non-military secrets as well.
In effect any news about the government offices or governance could also come under the preview of the Act. It was camouflaged censorship of magazines or newspapers because any news about the government could be considered a secret in one way or the other. The state governments were also against the amended Act.
Gokhale said—‘The opposition to the government in the states can not be tackled by censorships or repression. The peaceful negotiation was the correct way. The amendment is very dangerous. It will murder the Act itself.’
The government was able to get it passed as it had the majority in the council.
In December, 1903 Universities Bill was introduced. Gokhale read the draft and quickly came to the conclusion that it deserved to be opposed. He got a feeling that the government was taking educational institutions as the centres of the anti-government activities and the breeding grounds of the militant theories. The Bill was designed to get the institutions under the government control.
The educated youth was not happy. They were suffering unemployment. In foreign lands they were not getting salaries like others did. The frustration was growing up. That was the real reason for the young elements taking to militancy.
The government wanted to control college senates and syndicates to manipulate the student community.
Gokhale opposed the Bill.
The Bill envisaged increase in the numbers of the nominated members to these college bodies. It was designed to make Indian teachers also in those bodies ineffective.
But inspite of his protest the Bill was passed.
Education
On 18th March, 1910 Gokhale introduced a proposal in the Legislative Council to make the primary education free and compulsory all over the country. He suggested a commission to be constituted of government and non-government members.
He also presented facts and figures to show how the Indian government was neglecting the vital matter of education which was the key to India’s progress.
The government claimed that it was serious about the education. But the administration took no steps in the next two years to fulfil the promises.
Gokhale lamented, ‘It is a matter of shame for the British government. The compulsory education is still not introduced in India. They claim to be civilised and educated societies. In England it was introduced as the primary necessity but in backward India education became an optional matter. Out of every seven children five are not going to schools in India. Out of five villages four have no schools.’
Panchayats
On 27th February, 1912 Gokhale put forward a proposal before the Imperial Legislative Council in which he demanded formation of District Advisory Boards in the rural sector. He suggested that every District Collector must have the benefit of one non-government advisory board to help him give quick verdicts to lessen the burden of courts.
In this way Gopal Krishna Gokhale was trying to revive the gram panchayat system under a new name and format. He also wanted to popularise municipal boards to help them gain more funds.
Bal Gangadhar Tilak fully supported Gokhale on these issues.
Servants of India Society
Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Shivaharirai Sathe, one of the ‘Public Forum’ associate set up ‘Servants of India Society’ to serve the country by producing selfless and dedicated workers for the national causes.
The society functioned from an office situated inside Ferguson College premises. The members gathered in the college ground and took an oath of social service.
Gokhale took the oath first followed by Anna Vinayak Patwardhan, G.K. Devdhar, Naresh Appaji Dravid and host of others.
The servants took seven solemn oaths :
1. I will consider the country supreme and shall sacrifice my life in its cause.
2. I will not consider personal interest in the course of my duty.
3. All Indians will be my brothers and sisters.
4. I will not believe in caste or community.
5. Whatever the society will provide me for my living I will be content with it. I will not strive for any more income.
6. I will lead a honest life and shall not quarrel with anyone or carry any grudge.
7. I will protect the society to my maximum capacity and shall always bear in mind the objectives of the society.
The constitution of the Servants of India Society had taken the presence of the British in India as a divine arrangement to redeem Indian society and its interest. It laid stress on spiritualisation of India where the patriotism should be so deep that all other factors became insignificant.
To move forward with spiritual inspiration was the principle of the organisation.
Gopal Krishna Gokhale had himself become a spiritualist politician and hence the principles of the society were in the same line.
It is significant that ashrams set up by Gandhiji later on functioned on the similar spiritual values. He was so impressed with Servants of India Society that he had expressed his wish to become its member.
The society was an ample proof of Gokhale being a creative thinker. Many people think that the creation of Servants of India Society was the greatest achievement of Gokhale.
The members of the society were encouraged to seriously study the social situations around. They taught the public relations, provided solace to the suffering people and fought the alien enemy through constitutional means.
The members who were earning more money than the prescribe limit were required to deposit the excess money with the society.
The society had opened up branches at Bombay, Nagpur, Madras Allahabad and many other cities. The branches were functioning well and attracting members.
The funds never posed problem to Gokhale. He had a knack of raising money for his projects. And he had patronage of a number of rich people who considered it their privileges to help him out financially. They blindly trusted Gokhale to such extent that many gave him blank cheques.
In 1905, he easily collected one lac rupees for the purpose of building Ranade Memorial and set up Ranade Economic Institute which ran for five years before being taken over by Pune University.
Gokhale School of Politics and Economics Institute is still functional.
