AN UNLIKELY INDIAN POLITICAL STAR’S LATEST CRUSADE

[But in the final weeks of what many are predicting will be a landslide victory for Mr. Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, Mr. Kejriwal is the only national political figure to battle Mr. Modi directly for a parliamentary seat in Varanasi, whose voters go to the polls on May 12 in the last phase of India’s multistage voting process. Nationwide results will be announced four days later.] 

By Gardiner Harris

Credit Rajesh Kumar Singh/Associated Press

The anticorruption activist Arvind Kejriwal addressed supporters in Varanasi, India, in April.

ARANASI, India — Narendra Modi, the man widely expected to be India’s next prime minister, came to this tattered holy city last month like a messiah, greeted by vast crowds that showered him with adulation and rose petals in a triumphal procession.

But in the days after he left, one of India’s most intriguing political figures, Arvind Kejriwal — an anticorruption activist who was, for a short period recently, the chief minister of Delhi — held dozens of small rallies here in hopes of chipping away at Mr. Modi’s vast lead.

Mr. Kejriwal’s task is almost certainly hopeless. The people at his own rallies sometimes chant Mr. Modi’s name. When Mr. Kejriwal asked at one campaign event how many in the audience intended to vote for Mr. Modi, nearly half raised their hands.

“Kejriwal has no chance. Zero,” said Mihir S. Sharma, a political analyst and commentator.

But in the final weeks of what many are predicting will be a landslide victory for Mr. Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, Mr. Kejriwal is the only national political figure to battle Mr. Modi directly for a parliamentary seat in Varanasi, whose voters go to the polls on May 12 in the last phase of India’s multistage voting process. Nationwide results will be announced four days later.

Even some of Mr. Modi’s most fervent backers here expressed grudging admiration for Mr. Kejriwal’s quixotic effort. “I ask my people to give you full respect,” a Modi supporter said to Mr. Kejriwal at one of his rallies.

Mr. Kejriwal probably could have won a seat had he fought from his stronghold in New Delhi. Instead, he chose to challenge Mr. Modi in a bastion of strength for the Bharatiya Janata Party.

“It’s possible that he is suffering delusions of grandeur, but it’s more likely that even with a loss he believes his movement will get stronger, not weaker,” Mr. Sharma said.

The reason Mr. Kejriwal could gain from taking on Mr. Modi is a widespread perception that Rahul Gandhi, the scion of India’s great political dynasty and the leader of the Indian National Congress party’s electoral effort, has barely contested this election. And among those who oppose Mr. Modi, including much of India’s vast Muslim population as well as left-leaning groups, Mr. Kejriwal’s effort has generated considerable admiration.

“With one swift stroke, Kejriwal has taken his party’s name and symbol to the far corners of India,” said Neerja Chowdhury, a political commentator. “Other parties have needed 20 years to do what he’s done in one and a half.”

Indeed, Mr. Kejriwal’s fight may hurt the Congress party more than Mr. Modi’s. Muslims and others in Varanasi who oppose Mr. Modi have rallied to Mr. Kejriwal’s cause, peeling away voters from other parties. The Congress party’s local candidate, Ajay Rai, has pleaded for help from the national party but to no avail.

“I think Kejriwal will give Modi a run for his money, although I doubt he’ll win,” said Mahtab Alam, 32, a Muslim who owns a general store in Varanasi. “His support comes from every community here.”

A former tax commissioner, Mr. Kejriwal gained national attention three years ago as the top adviser to Anna Hazare, an activist who pushed India’s Parliament to adopt legislation creating an independent corruption monitor. The movement fell apart amid resistance from the governing United Progressive Alliance and growing tension between Mr. Hazare and Mr. Kejriwal.

Last year, Mr. Kejriwal formed his own party — known as Aam Aadmi, or Common Man — and shocked Delhi’s political establishment by becoming the state’s chief minister. But a series of missteps culminated in his resignation, and his movement stalled.

Now, he is hoping not only to build a comeback in New Delhi but to make his party into a national movement. Aam Aadmi has fielded more than 400 candidates throughout India.

Few predict that Aam Aadmi will emerge from the elections as anything but a small presence in Parliament. Mr. Modi’s supporters are certain of victory, and there was an aggressive triumphalism to the celebrations at his rallies last month.

“I have great faith in Modi, and I would like to vote him into power,” said Shitala Prasad Pandey, 52. “My life won’t change, but the life of the whole nation will improve with Modi.”

But Mr. Kejriwal has continued to hold four or five rallies a day, pounding away at what he says are Mr. Modi’s connections to Mukesh D. Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries.

Several hundred people – young and old, Muslim and Hindu — gathered on a recent Friday in a back alley near a small buffalo stable and waited nearly two hours for Mr. Kejriwal to appear. A large police contingent arrived, with a senior officer announcing that the gathering was illegal since the party had not received the required permit. The city’s municipal authority has long been controlled by the Bharatiya Janata Party.

The gathering continued nonetheless, while the officers conspicuously photographed and videotaped the organizers and speakers.

Finally, Mr. Kejriwal walked in and was greeted by a great cheer. But he was too short to be seen in the tightly packed space, so a plastic chair was passed through the crowd, and Mr. Kejriwal mounted it unsteadily.

He led the crowd in several patriotic cheers and, after allowing a Modi supporter to speak for several moments, began his attack on both the Congress and Bharatiya Janata parties.

Outside the modest apartment here where Mr. Kejriwal sleeps, even two police officers sitting guard late one night said that Mr. Kejriwal’s prospects were slim indeed.

“If he’d stayed chief minister in Delhi, he would have won this fight in Varanasi,” said Ashok Kumar Yadav, one of the officers. “But now, having quit, he has no chance.”

“The Modi wave will swamp him,” he said.

Suhasini Raj contributed reporting.

@ The New York Times