Dedicated my life to India, now I'm terrorist: Kejriwal responds to BJP attack

In an emotional message to the citizens of Delhi, incumbent Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on January 30 that he has dedicated his life to the service of the nation. His statement was in response to Bharatiya Janata Party’s Parvesh Verma labelling him a 'terrorist'.

While the tussle between the Aam Admi Party (AAP) and the saffron party for the throne in Delhi has been ongoing, the feud got deeper in the run-up to the Delhi Assembly elections. Things started taking an ugly turn once Arvind Kejriwal began speaking about the anti-Citizenship Act demonstrators gathered at Shaheen Bagh.

The worst direct attack on the AAP’s national convener came from Verma at a Delhi rally held last week when he called him a terrorist.

Besides the party writing to Delhi’s Chief Electoral Officer seeking a formal complaint to be registered against the BJP MP, Kejriwal tweeted:

भाजपा वाले कह रहे हैं कि केजरीवाल आतंकवादी है। मैंने 5 साल आपका बेटा बन कर काम किया है। ये निर्णय मैं आप पर छोड़ता हूँ कि मैं आपका बेटा हूँ या आतंकवादी। pic.twitter.com/FzcgOOGmyy

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) January 30, 2020

“I am a diabetes patient. I take insulin four times a day. Doctors asked me not to join politics... they said I would not live…. Without food for four hours, diabetic patients collapse. Yet, I fasted twice, for 10 and 15 days. I put my life at stake for India, but the Opposition left no stone unturned to harass me.”

In conclusion, the IIT-Kharagpur graduate said: “If I wanted to, I could have gone abroad like so many of my friends and colleagues. But I gave up my job; does a terrorist do all this? I leave this up to Delhi to decide... am I their son, their brother, or a terrorist?”