Panaji, April 8 (IANS): The proposed nationwide fast of the Congress on April 9 aimed to promote harmony among various sections of the society will help expose efforts of the BJP to divide the country on communal and sectarian lines, a senior Goa Congress leader said on Saturday.

"The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is out to divide the country on communal lines, in which its both central and state ministers and leaders play a key role. This fast is necessary to highlight such designs," state Congress president Shantaram Naik said.

Naik was addressing a meeting of the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee and the Congress Legislative Party members at the party's state headquarters here.

The All India Congress Committee (AICC) has given the call for the day-long nationwide fast by the party members.

Naik recounted the statements made by some BJP leaders, including the one made by MP Sakshi Maharaj, who had exhorted Hindu women to produce four children each to counter the rise of Muslim population.

He also referred to another comment by Union Minister of State for Food Processing Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, who had appealed to voters during a 2014 election rally in the national capital to choose between "Ramzaade" and "Haramzaade".