Gopalhari Deshmukh ‘Lokahitawadi’

Gopalhari Deshmukh (1823-1892) was a social reformer and rationalist from Maharashtra. He held the post of a judge under British raj, but wrote for a weekly Prabhakar under the pen name of Lokahitawadi on social reform issues. He advocated a reorganisation of Indian society on rational principles and modern, humanistic, secular values. He attacked Hindu orthodoxy and supported social and religious equality. He wrote against the evils of the caste system. He said, “If religion does not sanction social reform, then change religion.” He started a weekly, Hitechhu, and also played a leading role in founding the periodicals, Gyan Prakash, Indu Prakash and Lokahitawadi.