Kushal Debnath, who spent five months behind bars after being arrested by the Trinamul administration in 2017 and is out on bail, said this was not the time to remember his personal grudge against the Mamata Banerjee government.

Dipankar Bhattacharya, CPIML Liberation general secretary, pointed out: “Other ruling parties too have histories of torture but they are not fascists like the BJP.”

Debnath is not advocating voting for Mamata. He and Bhattacharya are part of an extraordinary campaign in Bengal that stands out because they do not seek votes for any party or person. Instead, they have a crystal-clear appeal: Don’t vote for the BJP.

Around 10,000 people bound by the common objective of not voting for the BJP walked together in a rally in Calcutta on Wednesday, asking everyone to follow their policy to save Bengal.

They cautioned that if people did not vote pragmatically and the BJP came to power in the state, it would mean a “threat to the freedom people enjoy in Bengal”.

The rally was not organised under the banner of any political party, nor did the participants ask anyone to vote for any particular party. All they asked was that no one vote for the BJP, so that parties are deterred in future from dividing society, curbing the independence of democratic institutions or targeting ordinary people for dissent.

The participants said they would propagate the message in their neighbourhoods when they returned home.

The one-hour march snaked from Ramlila Park in Moulali to Hogg Street, located along the eastern boundary of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation headquarters in Esplanade.

Among the participants were students, retired professionals and college teachers. Some of them held flags carrying images of icons such as Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar, Rabindranath Tagore, B.R. Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh.

“We are carrying flags showing people who worked for the rights of the lower castes and spoke in favour of unity and against dividing people along religious lines,” a marcher with a flag said.

Arpita Banerjee, who teaches economics at a college, said all she was asking was that people not vote for the BJP.

“I’m not recommending any political party — that’s the individual’s choice — but I’m saying one should not vote for the BJP,” she said.

“If they (the BJP) are elected to power, it would severely erode the freedom we enjoy in Bengal.”

While many of the participants had arrived in small groups, many others like Arpita had come alone. She said she had come because she supported the rally’s call: “No vote for BJP.”

Anwesha Roy, a student of Bethune College, explained why the BJP was worse than other parties.

“Remember the Muzaffarnagar riots, Delhi riots? No other party has orchestrated communal riots the way the BJP has done,” she said.

“Members of all other parties too commit violence but not with an agenda of hatred against a community.”

Anwesha said that if the BJP was voted to power, it could mean the end of the Opposition in Bengal.

“They will put everyone behind bars on charges like sedition. There will be none left to oppose their acts. We have to stop that happening,” she said.

Another participant said he was appalled at how “a section of the judiciary in India had crumbled” under pressure.

“Whoever faced injustice from the police or the government used to feel the courts would stand by them, but do we have that faith in the courts any longer?” he said.

Four conveners of Bengal Against Fascist RSS-BJP — the organisers of Wednesday’s rally — had been arrested by the Trinamul government in 2017 when they protested against the construction of a power substation in Bhangar.

Debnath, who spent five months in custody, said: “We are not advocating voting for Mamata Banerjee. All we are saying is, ‘Don’t vote for the BJP; vote for anyone else’. The BJP is dividing our own people. This is something Mamata never did.”

Slogans blared from the vehicles moving at the head of the rally and near its middle and tail.

Hundreds chanted: “BJP-r teen tey gun/ Looth, danga, manush khun (The BJP knows three skills/ To loot, riot and kill).”

Another slogan went “NRC-r naam kore/ Nagorikatto nichchhe kere/ Ei BJP ke vote noy” — a warning to people not to vote for a party that is “snatching citizenship on the pretext of the NRC”.

Many had come from outside Calcutta. An organiser said there were participants from all the south Bengal districts.

A few farmer leaders who had been protesting at Delhi’s borders since November marched in the rally and later addressed the crowd.

As the participants walked along S.N. Banerjee Road, many pedestrians and people from roadside shops raised their hands in a gesture of solidarity.

A shopkeeper near New Market kept chanting: "BJP ke ektio vote noy (Not a single vote for the BJP).”

The participants had begun gathering at Ramlila Park from 12.30pm. The march began around 1.30pm and reached Hogg Street about an hour later. Farmer leaders, a few of the rally organisers and some others then delivered speeches. Bhattacharya, the CPIML Liberation leader, was among the speakers.