Hours after its launch on Monday, December 18, the Congress’ crowdfunding campaign ‘Donate for Desh’ hit a technical bedrock. A website domain ‘DonateforDesh.org’ was purchased by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) soon after Congress announced the launch, and all the Congress donors were redirected to the donation page of the BJP.
In response, Supriya Shrinate, a Congress leader and the chairperson for the party’s social media and digital platforms, accused the BJP of “copying” their initiative and “creating fake domains to confuse people.” The Congress has since directed supporters to their official campaign domain, donateinc.net, to circumvent this confusion.
Another Congress supporter wrote: ‘Donate for Desh’ is the campaign name of the Congress crowdfunding drive but the website is donateinc.net
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday urged people to join hands in shaping a brighter future of the nation and contribute to the ‘Donate for Desh’ campaign. “You and I, together we will create a better India: By providing complete justice to everyone in society; by providing equal opportunities and rights and by paving the way for a progressive future. Join Congress in this vision of India. Go to https://donateinc.in and contribute to this campaign. Become equal partners in this struggle. #DonateForDesh,” Gandhi said in a post on X.
Earlier, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday launched the party’s online crowdfunding campaign ‘Donate for Desh’ and also donated Rs 1.38 lakh into the party’s account.
Congress treasurer Ajay Maken, senior party leaders KC Venugopal, Jairam Ramesh and several others were also present during the launch of the campaign at the residence of Kharge at 10 Rajaji Marg.
Launching the campaign, Kharge said, “If you just keep collecting money from the rich, then one will have to make policies and programmes according to their wishes. Our party has always been with the underprivileged, Dalits, Adivasis, OBCs, minorities and upper castes. We want to help them.”
The initiative is to build the country with the help of common people, he said. The Congress leader also said that the ‘Donate for Desh’ campaign is a commitment to upholding the rights of marginalised communities, bridging inequalities and being a strong opposition to the authoritarian government that favors a select few.
He said that this initiative is inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s historic ‘Tilak Swaraj Fund’ in 1920-21.
(With inputs from news agencies)
