Samajwadi Party will boycott the special session of both Houses of Uttar Pradesh Legislature on October 2, being held to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. 
The party will celebrate the day by singing ‘bhajans’ and ‘Ram dhun’ in front of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi at GPO Park in Hazratganj. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav will lead the party leaders and workers at the venue.
The special session of UP Legislature, initially scheduled to be an uninterrupted 48-hour session, is now likely to be 36 hours. The Legislative Council has already decided for a 36-hour session and the Assembly is likely to decide on this line a day ahead of the session in the Business Advisory Committee meeting of the House.
Explaining the reason for non-participation, Leader of Opposition in Assembly, Ram Govind Chaudhary, said, “The BJP is presenting a distorted view of all values that Gandhi stood for. All acts of the BJP government at the Centre and in UP, like spreading hatred on caste and religious lines and polarisation on religious lines, mob-lynching et al, go against Gandhian philosophy. If the BJP is sincere about Gandhian values then its leaders should start cleaning their toilets as done by Gandhiji in his lifetime.”
Claiming that the SP would expose the facade  created by the BJP in the cover of commemorating Gandhiji’s birth anniversary, Chaudhary said, “A BJP leader recently said that if the revolver of Nathuram Godse is auctioned then the response will determine who has more followers in the country, Gandhi or Godse.”
“The special session organised by the BJP government in UP is nothing but tokenism. BJP leaders, like Bhopal MP Sadhvi Pragya openly glorified Godse and the BJP brass did not punish her for the blatantly irresponsible and anti-national statement,” the leader of opposition said.
In a first, the Legislative Assembly decided earlier this month to convene a special 48-hour session to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi on October 2. The decision was taken unanimously at an all-party meet chaired by the Speaker. In he special session, he MLAs will deliberate on sustainable development goals set by the United Nations.
India along with 106 countries are signatories to the Sustainable Development Goals announced by the UNO. The goals primarily pertain to poverty alleviation, elimination of gender inequality, malnutrition; health, energy and education for all; nutrition, drinking water, gender equality etc. The Centre and state governments have reiterated committed towards achieving these goals.