Special UP session to mark Gandhi's birth anniv begins amid Opposition boycott

A special 36-hour session in both the houses of the Uttar Pradesh legislature to celebrate Mahatma Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary began on Wednesday amid boycott by the Opposition prompting Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to say that this is not only an "insult" to the Father of the Nation but also a "contempt" of the House. Setting the proceedings in motion, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Hriday Narain Dixit said such a session was never held in parliamentary history.

"It's unfortunate that opposition leaders, who agreed for the session, are not present. Probably they did not remember that they had given consent for the session," he said. Only members of the ruling BJP and its ally Apna Dal were present.

The simultaneous sessions of the state assembly and legislative council begun at 11 am and will continue till Thursday night without a break. In his nearly two-hour-long address, Adityanath recalled contributions of Gandhi and also of Lal Bahadur Shastri on their birthdays and highlighted his government's work to achieve sustainable development goals.

The special session will see leaders deliberate on 16 sustainable development goals set by the UN. The UN's sustainable development goals relate to poverty alleviation, gender inequality elimination, malnutrition, health for all, energy for all, education for all, nutrition, drinking water and gender equality.

The Opposition parties, including Samajwadi Party, BSP, Congress and Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party, boycotted proceedings claiming the state government is just out to set a record. Adityanath said he is "astonished that the opposition, which had in an all-party meeting agreed to discuss issues concerning the poor, has boycotted proceedings".

"The opposition's decision to stay away from constructive discussion to form a concrete policy for development is not only an insult to Mahatma Gandhi but also a contempt of the House," he said in his address. He took a dig at these parties saying how will they "like a discussion on issues of poor as they were involved in 'jungleraj' for past 14-15 years and looted resources of the state".

"Their mentality is to follow nepotism and casteism. Development is not in their ideology. Congress, which ruled in the name of Gandhi is also not present. When we talk of 'rasthtrawad' they (Congress) talk of 'atankwad' (terrorism) and when we talk of development, SP-BSP talk of casteism," the chief minister said. Invoking Gandhi, Adityanath noted that he had rightly said that Congress should be dissolved after independence.

"He (Gandhi) was a visionary. He must have realised the Congress is going to kill his ideology (in future). Now the people are doing the same (what Gandhi said) and I thank them for this," he added. He went on to say that discussion on issues of poor is against the opposition's interests.

"When we talk of poor they (opposition) fear of losing their vote bank. Despite trying alliances and other tactics they failed to win people's trust and 2019 polls proved it," he said. "Opposition parties are not attending the session as they do not want the truth to come out before the people," he claimed.

During the session, lawmakers will also discuss Gandhi's life and vision. Adityanath said the first goal of his government is to eradicate poverty from Uttar Pradesh. "It is a challenge for us to expand in the field of education, production, medicine and employment. Our government is headed towards sustainable development."

In the Legislative Council, the proceedings got off with the leader of the house and Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma saying that Gandhi united people of all castes and religions through his policies, principles and organisational capabilities. Arrangements have been made to serve lunch, high tea and dinner to the legislators as well as the staff with special care on serving food to those observing fast in view of the ongoing Navratri.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)