On Gandhi Jayanti, a Samajwadi Party (SP) leader, Firoz Khan, was observed weeping in front of a statue of Mahatma Gandhi. The incident, which took place at Fawara Chowk in the Chandausi Kotwali area of Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, involved Khan and his aides wailing and expressing grief, with Khan crying out "Desh azad karakar Bapu kahan chale gaye aap".

The event occurred on the 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi's birth in 2019. Khan stated he was saddened to see the statue of Gandhi covered in dust. He also criticized the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), accusing them of hypocrisy and demanding they clarify their stance on Mahatma Gandhi versus his assassin, Nathuram Godse. "The other name of BJP is 'nautanki'. I was disheartened to see Gandhi ji's statue in dust. People can't be fooled with show-off. They need to clarify whether they are in support of Godse or Gandhi,” Khan said.

Videos of the incident circulated widely on social media. Some social media users trolled Khan, accusing him of shedding "crocodile tears" and staging a drama for publicity. BJP leaders also criticized Khan, with one BJP district unit president stating, "There was no tear in his eyes and he was doing nothing but disrespecting Gandhiji. Moreover, it was not death anniversary, but the birth anniversary of Gandhiji which was being celebrated with full fervour across the country but the SP leader and workers were mourning like banshees, which is disgusting".

Khan defended his actions, asserting that anyone would have been emotional seeing the state of Gandhi's statue. He also pointed out that during the Samajwadi Party's governance in Uttar Pradesh, the administration ensured the cleanliness of Gandhi's statues on his birth anniversary, a practice he claimed had been neglected under the BJP government for the past two years. He added that crores of rupees were being spent in the name of "Bapu," and stressed that the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan would only succeed with everyone's support.

This was not the first time Firoz Khan had been in the news. Earlier that year, he had made headlines for dressing up as a groom to evade police security and show support for Azam Khan. He had also faced criticism for making lewd remarks against BJP candidate Jaya Prada during the Lok Sabha elections.