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Saket Gokhale is an Indian RTI activist, social activist, and former journalist. He is a supporter of the Indian political party the Indian National Congress.
Wiki/Biography
Saket Gokhale was born in 1988 (age 33 years; as of 2021) in Nasik, Mumbai. He studied Journalism and Media Studies at Wilson College in Mumbai from 2004 to 2007. In 2008, he attended Trinity College, London. He has also studied Language Teaching at Prague School, Czech Republic.
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 5′ 7″
Eye Colour: Black
Hair Colour: Black
Family & Caste
He was born in a Brahmin Hindu family.
Parents & Siblings
His father, Suhas Gokhale, is a retired police officer and senior inspector at the Anti Narcotic Cell. His mother’s name is Neela Gokhale, and his younger sister’s name is Shruti Gokhale.
Saket Gokhale’s sister and father
Relationships, Wife & Children
During an interview, while talking to a reporter, he said,
I’m not married, I’m single and I don’t have family (that relies on me). I don’t have children.”
Career
In April 2008, he started working as an English lecturer at Hampson CS s.r.o. in Mlada Boleslav, Czech Republic. In June 2008, he worked as an Independent Foreign Correspondent for Europe and South Asia. In October 2009, he started working as a South Asia correspondent at Debtwire (Financial Times Group). In April 2014, he joined Flarepath Digital, Mumbai as Head- Brand Content Strategy and worked there for more than a year. From July 2015 to February 2017, he worked as Creative Director & Head – Content (Digital Quotient) at HT Media Ltd, New Delhi.
After quitting his job in 2017, he started working as an RTI Activist, and as of 2021, he has filed more than 50 RTIs. Some of his most talked about petitions are:
- In April 2019, he filed a PIL in the Supreme Court of India to investigate Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s undeclared assets. His PIL was rejected as it had many defects. He then wrote a letter to the Chief Justice of India in which he stated that someone in the Supreme Court was trying to protect PM Narendra Modi against the petition filed by him. Some lines from his letter are:
Milord, without getting into the minute details of my case or prejudicing it. I just wish to bring to your notice that my Writ Petition pertains to discrepancies about details on land properties in Gujarat owned by the Honorable Prime Minister which were not declared in his election affidavit.”
- In 2020, he filed a plea in the Allahabad High Court on restraining Bhoomi Poojan or a ground-breaking ceremony for the Ram temple in Ayodhya amid the Coronavirus pandemic. He objected to a gathering of 300 people at a single location which was against the social distancing guidelines by the State and Centre government. Later, the Allahabad High Court rejected his petition. He then appeared on a news channel to oppose a ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. As per his tweets, he started getting death threats on the phone from the BJP and RSS.
- Saket Gokhale filed a petition in the Bombay High Court in 2020, in which he urged to give directions to the Ministry of Women & Child Development to dismiss Rekha Sharma as its chairperson. According to Saket, she was promoting anti-Muslim theory “love jihad.”
- In 2021, he penned down a written complaint letter to the Maharashtra Home Minister in which he questioned how Fadnavis obtained Remdesivir stock from Gujarat when the sale was only for the government. He demanded an FIR against the BJP leader and former chief minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis; in case he was found guilty. Saket wrote in his letter,
This issue is not only a grave threat to the stability of the government of Maharashtra but also an affront to the millions of residents of Maharashtra who are desperately searching and scrambling for Remdesivir in the middle of this pandemic while it is hoarded by an Opposition party illegally.”
He further added,
The claim [made] by Fadnavis about his plans to donate the Remdesivir to the state government seems like an afterthought and an explanation hastily concocted when the illegal procurement of Remdesivir was caught by the Mumbai Police.”
Signature
Saket Gokhale’s signature
Facts/Trivia
- Saket Gokhale is an avid animal lover and owns a few pet dogs and cats. One of his dogs’ name is Layla.
Saket Gokhale’s pet dog
- He loves reading and listening to rock band in his leisure time.
- He is a die-hard fan of the American singer Bob Dylan.
- Saket follows a non-vegetarian diet.
Saket Gokhale’s Instagram post
- He is well versed in speaking various languages like English, German, Hindi, Czech language, and Marathi.
- As per his Facebook account, he is secular.
- Saket is often spotted smoking and drinking alcohol at parties.
Saket Gokhale drinking alcohol
Saket Gokhale smoking
- In one of his tweets, he said that he was a follower of Congress.
Saket Gokhale’s tweet about being a Congress supporter
- In most of his social media posts, he has shown haterade towards the BJP and support towards Congress.
Saket Gokhale with Rahul Gandhi
- In 2011, he volunteered as a management and re-structuring consultant at Ladakh Hilfe/REWA Society, Leh, Ladakh.
- In 2015, his father, Suhas Gokhale, was arrested for his alleged links with drug dealers. On the same day, Suhas got retired from his services as a police officer. After almost five years, in 2019, his name was dropped out from the charge sheet as he was not found guilty. On the eve of father’s day in 2019, Saket posted a heartfelt note for his father on his social media account, he wrote,
On this Father’s Day, I appeal to all you kids to give your fathers a tight hug and tell them how much you appreciate that they are there. Also if your dad is your hero, please tell him so. Because we never say it enough. I wish to tell my dad that I love him to bits. I can neither say this to him nor can I hug him.”
- In 2020, he successfully raised Rs. 22 lakhs through a website ‘Our Democracy’ to take on BJP’s hate machine. He had appealed to the public on his Twitter account to raise funds, saying that,
If you feel what I do is important enough and deserves support, please do help out and contribute. I am but one person & I cannot do this without your support.”
- In December 2020, he had a complaint of chest pain and breathlessness which was later detected as a mild cardiac arrest.