RSS vicharak (thinker) and DU professor Rakesh Sinha is now a wanted man in West Bengal.

Sinha has been booked under various non-bailable sections of the IPC by Kolkata Police. While Sinha termed this a 'strong-arm tactic' to silence his criticism of the Mamata Banerjee regime over communal appeasement and consequent violence in Bashirhat, RSS-affiliated legal body Legal Rights Observatory (LRO) has called for an NIA probe into the role of TMC MLAs in the communal flare-up.

The case, filed on July 12 on a complaint lodged a couple of days prior to that, claims that Sinha tried to incite communal hatred and thus tried to spark communal conflagration in the already disturbed state through his social media posts. A particular post has also been made the basis of the complaint. In a Twitter post, Sinha had posted a picture with his mother offering prayers at the Mahakal Temple in Ujjain on July 9. According to Kolkata lawyer Brajesh Jha, who is representing Sinha, one Manoj Kumar Singh filed the complaint against him, calling his post "provocative" that can lead to communal tension and riots.

'MAMATA WANTS TO SILENCE HER OPPONENTS'

"We are moving for anticipatory bail and also planning to sue the complainant," Jha said. "The FIR has been lodged against me in Kolkata without any evidence and registered without any annexture. Mamata Banerjee wants to silence her opponents and this mentality needs to be crushed. Freedom of Expression is under threat and she is using the police and administration as the B-team of TMC," Sinha told Mail Today.

"Mamata has now started chasing her critiques outside the state. The FIR mentioned of a photo which incited violence. In the last three months, I have posted three photos: one performing puja at Mahakaleshwar temple in Ujjain along with my mother; another where the President of India was presenting an award to me; and lastly, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat releasing a book on Narendra Modi. Do these photos incite violence? Mamata is afraid of my research-based criticism of her communal social philosophy," he added.

"We condemn the FIR against Rakesh Sinha for exposing the involvement of jihadi radicals of TMC in Basirhat/ Baduria riots. We will legally defeat the lunatic action by the Bengal government," LRO convener Vinay Joshi told Mail Today. TMC Leader Derek O'Brian refused to comment on the matter. He instead asked the reporter to mail the query to the media contact mail address of the party.

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