A graffiti in Mandarin in Tangra intends to woo the city's dwindling Chinese population for the Lok Sabha polls.
About half a kilometre from Park Circus, the neighbourhood popularly known as Chinatown is home to many third and fourth-generation Chinese in the city.
Trinamool Congress's Kolkata South candidate, Mala Roy, used a wall off Topsia Road to connect with the voters in Mandarin and include them in the elections. Kolkata South goes to vote on June 1.
The Chinese came to Calcutta about 300 years ago, said Chen Yao Hua, the president of the All India Chinese Association in Calcutta.
"Over the years, the number of Chinese in the city has gone down. There are only about 1,000 Chinese in Calcutta now, mostly in Tangra and Tiretta Bazaar," said Yao Hua, a third-generation Chinese in Calcutta.
The initial settlements were in Tiretta Bazaar and then many moved to Tangra, he said.
"Those who came initially were into shoe-making, leather business, carpentry and were also dentists," said Janice Lee, CEO, Pou Chong, the sauce manufacturers who started their business in Calcutta in 1958.
Lee, 36, is a fifth-generation Chinese in Calcutta.
A significant number of the Chinese in the city are in the restaurant business.
Calcutta's own interpretation of Chinese food is now a cuisine by itself.
Trinamool's Roy said on Tuesday: "We have Chinese voters in the area and I come here every year to see and meet them. These Chinese residents are our voters."
The BJP candidate for the Kolkata South constituency is Debasree Chowdhury. The CPM has fielded Saira Shah Halim.
Roy won Kolkata South in 2019. The closest candidate was the BJP's Chandra Kumar Bose but Roy was ahead of him by a margin of about 1,50,000 votes.
A resident of Tangra, Joseph Chen, said the graffiti reminded the Chinese community that they still mattered.
"Our culture and language are becoming extinct day by day. But when we see such graffiti on the wall it makes us feel important and that our vote counts," he said.
Ranajit Tapadar, a party worker who has been writing Trinamool's poll graffiti in Mandarin for over 10 years, said: "The community comes to know about the candidates in their constituency in their mother tongue. It is not possible for us to take leaflets to every home but graffiti creates more impact."
Faiz Ahmed Khan, the Trinamool councillor of Ward 66 in Tangra, said his ward is a "mini India and multicultural".
"We have the Chinese and the Buddhists apart from Hindus, Muslims and Christians in this ward," Faiz said.
