[4] He mentored several socialists in Karnataka including J.H.Patel,[5] Bangarappa, S. M. Krishna and D. Devaraj Urs, who became the chief ministers of the state.

Urs was inspired and understood the depth of Gopala Gowda's mind and life which was devoted to the poor and working classes, especially the farmers.

Upon the publication of his biography, N. Dharam Singh, chief minister of Karnataka, said that "the agitation and the political contribution of the late Shantaveri Gopala Gowda are significant in the history of the Legislature".

[6] He was a firebrand politician who knew the culture of the land, and being a villager himself had a great following among the farmer community of Karnataka.

A well-read person with a strong love for the Kannada language, he had been a friend to many intellectual and sensitive literary figures of Karnataka like the poet Gopalakrishna Adiga, the novelist Dr. U.R.