After 1947, BJP is trying to divide the country through CAB:

West Bengal Congress president Somen Mitra Wednesday asked the people to oppose the divisive Citizenship Amendment Bill "tooth and nail" and accused the BJP government of dividing the country once again on religious lines after the 1947 partition.

Mitra announced that Congress will launch state-wide movement against the controversial bill.

The West Bengal Congress unit organised a sit-in outside its office in the city against CAB and NRC during the day.

"After 1947, BJP is trying to divide the country through CAB and NRC. The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is one of the worst steps taken since Independence to divide the country on religious lines. In 1947 the British had divided the country and now a political party of our own country is dividing our country. This is the most shameful and also the horrific part of this Citizenship (Amendment) Bill," Mitra said.

He said the fathers of the Constitution had kept secularism as one of its main principles, but BJP is not only trying to remove it from the Constitution but make the country a "Hindu Pakistan", he said.

"Both India and Pakistan was formed in 1947 and we have seen the present perilious condition of Pakistan, which has declared itself as a Muslim state. We have also seen how our country has prospered as it has declared itself as a secular state," the Congress leader said.

"Secularism is soul of our country," he said.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha on Monday and was placed in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

According to the proposed legislation, members of the Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who came to India from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan by December 31, 2014 and faced religious persecution in those countries will not be treated as illegal immigrants and will be granted Indian citizenship.