West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday declared that the state will not tolerate the National Register of Citizens (NRC) policy and warned the Central government against 'dividing Bengal'.

The Trinamool Congress chief was conducting a procession from Sinthi More to Shyambazar in North Kolkata, where she said dividing Bengal would mean dividing the country as the state's traditions are also a part of the country's collective tradition.

"You are trying to destroy the culture of Bengal," she said, "You cannot make us bow down. Jai Hind, Jai Bangla is our slogan." The Chief Minister warned the Centre against 'playing with fire' and said that this is the time to 'start a movement'.

Mamata Banerjee said, "We will not implement NRC because out of the total population of 19 lakhs, 11 lakh are Hindus, and 1 lakh are Gorkhas". She asked if they are excluded out of the NRC list, will they not be considered Indian nationals.

CM Mamata Banerjee had earlier objected to Centre's NRC policy in Assam. She had repeatedly stated that the same policy would not be tolerated in West Bengal and had even raised the issue in the state's Legislative Assembly.

The BJP has kept on with their demands of imposing the NRC policy in the state. State BJP President Dilip Ghosh has backed the claim and declared that 2 crore names will be excluded after the policy is implemented in Bengal. The citizenship issue, therefore, has proved to be key in shaping Bengal's political battleground in the days to come.