Stars descend on Begusarai for Kanhaiya Kumar

BEGUSARAI: A galaxy of stars from Bollywood, a stand-up sensation and a bevy of volunteers, including his former JNU batchmates, have helped Kanhaiya Kumar keep the national spotlight on Begusarai, where he is taking on BJP’s Hindutva hardliner Giriraj Singh.
The 32-year-old CPI nominee, no stranger to the national media courtesy the JNU sedition case, has drawn support from across the country with volunteers streaming in from across the country to help with his campaigning.
From celebrities like Javed Akhtar, Shabana Azami, Prakash Raj and Swara Bhaskar, to an 18- year old college student from Amravati in Maharashtra, to stand- up comedian Kunal Kamra, a Youtube channel owner from Delhi, a professor from BHU and a lawyer from Chandigarh — his band of volunteers is as diverse as it gets.
“I heard about Kanhaiya in 2016 when his name came into limelight in JNU sedition case. Later, I read his book ‘Bihar To Tihar’ and it inspired me. I came to Begusarai to meet him around two months ago, even when his candidature was not announced. I decided to stay and support him in the cause of raising the voice of dissent and have been doing door- to- door campaigning for him,” says Khushi Punjabi, an 18-year-old BSc student, who has come all the way from Amravati.
Filmmaker and Youtube channel owner from Delhi, Nakul Singh Sehni, who has been camping in Begusarai for around a week now and his team has been here for nearly a fortnight, says he was drawn by the Kanhaiya “phenomena”.
“Kanhaiya has become the face of dissent, a voice of a certain section of people, who want to be heard in Delhi. Apart from the constituencies in east Uttar Pradesh, Begusarai is the only constituency where I was keen to come. The contest here is really interesting as Kanhaiya has single handedly taken political goliath like BJP as well as a strong regional player RJD,” Nakul said.
Ramagya Sashidhar, a professor of Hindi literature at Banaras Hindu University (BHU) campaigned for Kanhaiya for over a week. “I feel connected with Kanhaiya as I also hail from Simariya village in Begusarai, have done PhD from JNU and agree with the issues of democracy and Constitution he raises. I did door- to- door campaigning and told people why it is important to send Kahaiya to Parliament,” says Sashidhar.
Advocate Ashwani Bakshi from Chandigarh, who filed the petition against self-proclaimed Godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in Punjab and Haryana High Court, pitched in for two days. “I stayed in Begusarai for two days and campaigned for Kanhaiya. I first met lawyers and other intellectuals, then did door- to- door campaigning,” Bakshi says.
Kanhaiya puts this rallying of people around him from across the country as every individual’s own fight to save India’s democracy. He told TOI: “Everyone is fighting their own battle honestly. Each one of them has come for a cause. There is a direct fight, Modi versus we, the people of India, pro- government versus pro- people. So, the pro- poor people are linking their voice with my voice for a common cause of saving the democracy.”
Earlier this week, poet Javed Akhtar and actress Shabana Azami campaigned for him. “BJP knows they have not fulfilled their poll promises, therefore, they are resorting to their old tactics of instigating communal tension to win elections,” Shabana told a public meeting at RKC High School at Barauni on Thursday.
Actor Prakash Raj also camped here for a week, campaigning for Kanhaiya and shared the stage with Shabana. Known for his no-holds barred social media attacks, he slammed BJP on its communal politics, asking people to vote or Kanhaiya to raise their voice in Parliament.
Kunal Kamra, known for his popular political-comedy podcast ‘Shut Up Ya Kunal’, also came to Begusarai to campaign for Kanhaiya.
Bollywood actor Swara Bhaskar, known for her strong stands on social issues, also campaigned in Begusarai and put photos of her rallies on social media.
Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani and civil rights activist Teesta Setalvad were in Begusarai on April 9, when Kanhaiya filed his nomination papers. Gurmehar Kaur, the youngest among these personalities, said she had come to support Kanhaiya as he was the first to raise his voice against the Modi government.
Fatima Nafees, mother of Najeeb Ahmad, a JNU student who allegedly disappeared from the campus after an altercation with ABVP activists in 2016, has been staying with Kanhaiya’s family ever since he filed his nomination.