A street-corner meeting was held on Sunday under a forum called Save Democracy in New Town. There were no political party flags on view, neither did any of the speakers solicit votes for any candidate. But the speakers were Leftists.

The aim was to remind voters of New Town of July 8, the day a large section of them were denied the right to exercise their franchise in the panchayat election by outsiders who had put up barricades blocking all roads to the polling booth.

Ambikesh Mahapatra speaks at the meeting on Sunday. Sudeshna Banerjee

Pamphlets were distributed among passersby which pointed out that a case filed by a leftist group was being heard in the high court against people involved in the vote boycott call.

A play was put up on communal harmony in which two former neighbours of different faiths reminisce about life across the border and reflect on changes they have seen after crossing over.

Ambikesh Mahapatra, among other speakers, addressed the gathering. Mahapatra, a chemistry professor at Jadavpur University, recalled the harassment he faced for over a decade for forwarding an allegedly derogatory cartoon on chief minister Mamata Banerjee.