Gopal Krishna Gokhale (1866–1915) was a leading moderate of the Indian National Congress, a reformer and legislator who founded the Servants of India Society in 1905 and was regarded by Gandhi as his political guru.
Gokhale came from a poor Chitpavan Brahmin family and graduated from Elphinstone College, Bombay, in 1884. He joined the Deccan Education Society and taught history and economics at Fergusson College for nearly two decades. Under the guidance of Justice M. G. Ranade, a scholar and reformer, he learned the value of careful study, constitutional methods and patient public work. He edited the Sudharak, a reformist journal, and served as secretary of the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha.
He rose quickly in the Congress as an expert on public finance. In 1897 he gave evidence before the Welby Commission on Indian expenditure in London, where his clear criticism of military spending and the drain of resources won attention. Elected to the Bombay Legislative Council and then, in 1902, to the Imperial Legislative Council, he became known for his annual budget speeches, which subjected the government's finances to detailed scrutiny.
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