Mahatma Gandhi divided society: Mayawati

Chandigarh, Oct 27: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati today criticised Mahatma Gandhi for allegedly ''dividing the society on caste lines by calling the Scheduled Castes as harijan.'' ''Gandhi may have played a great role in freedom struggle, but he divided the society in two parts by using the word 'harijan', which is unconstitutional,'' Ms Mayawati said while responding to reporters' queries at a Meet-the-Press programme at the Chandigarh Press Club.

On the contarary, she said, Babasaheb Ambedkar made attempts to create harmony between the weaker sections and the upper castes in the society.

Gandhiji, she said, never agreed with the ideology of Ambedkar.

''The two leaders had separate ways,'' she added.

The UP CM made a comparison between the two leaders when a reporter observed that there was a reflection of Gandhism in her programme of social engineering.

UNI