Kanhaiya Kumar's attempt to crowdfund his campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections was cut short as the site, www.ourdemocracy.com, had to be taken down for a security upgrade after it suffered numerous cyber attacks in the one day that it was live for. But Kumar seems to have collected more than Rs 32 lakh in less than 24 hours.
An integral member of Kanhaiya's team, Varun Chauhan said that the funds that have been raised are not at risk or exposed to any security concerns. "We have raised Rs 32 lakh in less than 24 hours that the site was properly live for. The money goes to a payment gateway and not to a particular account directly. Once the campaign is done, the ourdemocracy.com team will transfer the funds or hand over a cheque. We will set up an account in accordance with the EC rules and regulations and then transfer the money there." Kanhaiya is contesting in the upcoming elections from Begusarai in Bihar.
The attacks, Varun said, started within an hour after the site went live. "I don't want to name anyone directly. But certain IT cells have been working hard to flood the site with various forms of cyber attacks. We have a team from the USA and the site IT professionals working on the security upgrade of the site at Delhi. It will take a day to get it back up."
Former JNUSU president Kanhaiya, now 32 years old, appealed for support in the form of donations and set a target of Rs 70 lakh to save democracy. Kanhaiya launched his campaign on March 26. He appealed everyone to donate at least Re 1 for his fund, "Your donation of even a rupee will help me to fight the election and take the voice of the marginalised and exploited to the Parliament".
Kanhaiya spoke about Gauri Lankesh, M M Kalburgi, Rohit Vemula and missing JNU student Najeeb in his appeal, "At a terrifying moment like this, we all share the struggle to protect the values of our constitution and of humanity. It is often that people who raise genuine issues have to face vile schemes on one hand and resource crunch on the other. We really hope that you will make a financial contribution to the best of your ability and strengthen us in this shared struggle."
Meanwhile, Gujarat's Dalit leader and Kanhaiya's close compatriot, Jignesh Mewani arrived in Begusarai on March 27 and Kanhaiya greeted him aptly, "My friend has come from the land of Gandhi and Sardar Patel to tell every household about the fraudulent schemes of Modi and Shah in Gujarat."
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