The last remaining community of Indian Chinese is in Kolkata. Their population from over 20000 has dwindled to around 4000-5000. And they have the right to vote because they are Indian citizens and a right they exercised prominently in the 2019 elections, also doing that in local elections.

The Chinese community in Bengal is over two centuries old, they arrived here for purposes of trade and stayed to make a home in a cosmopolitan Kolkata of the 19th century. The current population was born in India and are Indian citizens. These Indians have lived through the 1962 war, the Dalai Lama leaving Tibet for exile in India, Doklam and now Galwan valley issue and coronavirus - subjected to various forms of discrimination,suspicion and boycott.

The Trinamool Congress first deployed chinese language graffiti in the 2019 elections to encourage political participation from a community of Indians who are being increasingly sidelined and marginalised. However, the dark colonial legacy of divide and rule continues to be enthusiastically perpetuated by the BJP that has a misplaced idea of nationalism and patriotism.