Gopal Krishna Gokhale: Facts about the social reformer you must read and share on his birth anniversary

Gopal Krishna Gokhale was one of the most influential leaders during India's struggle for independence. He was born on May 9, 1866 and was a social reformer whose goals were to promote non-violence and reform within the existing government institutions.

On his birth anniversary here are some interesting facts about the social reformer

• Gopal Krishna Gokhale was born in a Brahmin family during the British Raj. Despite being from a relatively poor household, he received an English education which wasn't easy to cope up to in those days.

• Mahatma Gandhi in his autobiography, referred to Gokhale as his mentor and guide. Being one of the first generations of Indians to receive a college education, he was widely respected in the intellectual community.

• Gokhale was one of the founders of the Servants of India Society (1905), whose members took vows of poverty and lifelong service to the underprivileged.

• He opposed the ill-treatment of untouchables, or low-caste Hindus, and also took up the cause of impoverished Indians living in South Africa.

• Gokhale was among the most prominent faces in the Indian National Congress and a strong advocate for gaining independence from British rule via constitutional means.

• He became a member of the Indian National Congress in 1889. He was also the secretary of the Indian National Congress's "Reception Committee" during its Poona session in 1895.

• Gokhale was reportedly one of the first Indians to complete graduation. In 1884, after his graduation in arts at the Elphinstone College, Bombay, Gokhale moved to Pune to take up a teaching job at a school.

• Gokhale first married in 1880. After the wife's death, he remarried in 1887. His second wife passed away in 1900 and he did not remarry after later.

• The reformed breathed his last on February 19, 1915.