Mandarin Graffiti Supporting Trinamool’s South Kolkata Candidate Come up in City’s China Town

Kolkata: Members of the Chinese Hakka community, settled in Kolkata’s China Town in the Tangra area near EM Bypass since centuries, have come forward to support the ruling Trinamool Congress in the upcoming Lok Sabha Election in a unique way.

They have decided to canvass for Trinamool candidate Mala Roy through wall graffiti in Mandarin.

Roy is contesting from the Kolkata South Lok Sabha seat and China Town falls under this constituency.

The area is noted for hosting the city’s best Chinese restaurants. Earlier, there were tanneries, but over the years all these have been shifted to the Bantala Leather Complex off EM Bypass.

According to locals, ever since the Mamata Banerjee-led party came to power, there has been peace in their locality. The entire area has witnessed massive development in terms of better road, water and civic amenities, they claimed.

“Hence, we have churned out the idea of supporting the Trinamool candidate through wall graffiti in Mandarin. Here, we are requesting all our people to vote for Maladi (Roy). During the Left Front’s rule, China Town became a hub of criminals. There was no development. But now, (after Banerjee came to power) we are leaving peacefully here,” said Francis Lee, a China Town resident.

Local party councilor Faiz Ahmed Khan said, “Recently, they approached us and expressed their willingness to participate in the campaigning for Roy. We welcomed their initiative.”

“Of the nearly 5,000 Chinese families in China Town, a total 2,000 are registered voters and all of them have extended their support to us. This is for the first time that they have come forward to support Roy through wall graffiti in Mandarin,” he added.

In 2014, TMC candidate Subrata Bakshi won the South Kolkata seat by over 1.36 lakh votes. However, with Bakshi now in charge of looking after party affairs, Roy, the current chairperson of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, is the party nominee for the crucial seat.

The seven Assembly segments of Kolkata South are Ballygunge, Bhowanipore, Behala West, Behala East, Kasba, Port and Rashbehari. Banerjee in an MLA from Bhowanipore.

“I don’t have words to express my gratitude. I would like to thank all the Chinese people residing in Kolkata for extending their support,” TMC candidate Mala Roy said.