Kanhaiya Kumar’s crowdfunding platform hacked but stars line up for campaign

Hackers have attacked the platform launched by Communist Party of India (CPI) candidate from Begusarai Lok Sabha constituency, Kanhaiya Kumar, to crowdsource his campaign.

The website launched in partnership with OurDemocracy, a crowdfunding platform on Monday, elicited an overwhelming response and about ₹30 lakh was collected by it within three days.

Party sources alleged that hacking was the handiwork of opposition. “Finally, we decided to shutdown the platform on Thursday. However, the money contributed by various people across the country is safe,” they said, adding it would be re-launched in a day or two with advanced security features, so that it is not attacked by hackers again. Kanhaiya was not accepting donation from foreign countries or its citizens, they said.

They claimed the target of collecting ₹70 lakh, as stipulated by the Election Commission of India for poll expenses, would be achieved very soon.

“Kanhaiya, former JNUSU president, in his campaign trail appealed to the voters to contribute for his poll expenses and this has attracted very good response,” Kanhaiya’s brother Prince, who is one of his poll managers, said.

Meanwhile, Begusarai is awaiting a star-studded show, as a long list of celebrities from across the country have expressed their desire to campaign for Kanhaiya.

Dalit leader and Vadgam constituency legislator in Gujarat, Jignesh Mevani, reached Begusarai on Wednesday to campaign for Kanhaiya. On Thursday, Jignesh took a cycle trip at Bihat, the native place of Kanhaiya, to meet people.

Bollywood actors Swara Bhasker, Nandita Das, Prakash Raj, Shabana Azmi and lyricist Javed Aktar have expressed their desire to campaign for Kanhaiya. Besides, Narmada Bachao Andolan activist Medha Patkar, Patidar leader Hardik Patel and Bollywood director Imtiaz Ali were also expected to join Kanhaiya in poll trail.

“All the celebrities, including Swara, a Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) alumna, are in regular touch with Kanhaiya and they are eager to hit poll turf,” Prince said.

However, the party has not decided the list of final campaigners, as the number of celebrities willing to come to Begusarai is long.

“We will be finalising the list of celebrities in a day or two and assign them the places where they will go for election campaign,” said a CPI party official here.