Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the prime target of the Bharatiya Janata Party campaign for the 1 February elections, on Thursday sought to put the spotlight on a BJP leader’s controversial remark, asserting that it was for the people of Delhi to decide if he was a terrorist.
The controversy over BJP lawmaker Parvesh Verma calling chief minister Arvind Kejriwal a “terrorist” had erupted yesterday when a video clip of the BJP leader’s speech at a public event emerged.
In this clip, Verma was heard saying, “If Kejriwal comes to power again, Madipur’s streets will become Shaheen Bagh. There are many Natwarlals (cheats) like Kejriwal and aatankwadis (terrorists) like Kejriwal hiding in Delhi. We have to throw them out. I fail to understand if we should fight terrorists in Kashmir or against terrorists like Kejriwal in Delhi.”
As Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party hit back, Verma claimed that he meant to call Kejriwal a naxalite. It didn’t help.
Kejriwal tweeted he was dismayed. “I have been working day and night for Delhi for the last five years…. Today in return, the Bharatiya Janata Party is calling me a terrorist … It is very sad,” he said in a tweet in Hindi.
Kejriwal followed up on his tweet with an emotional pitch on Friday.
The chief minister recalled how he had given up his job as an income tax officer to sit on a hunger strike against corruption.
“I’m a diabetic and take insulin 4 times a day. If a person with diabetes is on insulin and doesn’t eat anything for 3-4 hours, they collapse and die. In such a situation, I have done hunger strike against corruption twice, once for 15 days and then 10 days,” Kejriwal said, according to news agency ANI.
As chief minister, Kejriwal said he had worked for improving the quality of education, healthcare, free pilgrimage for old citizens. “Are these steps that a terrorist would take?” he asked.
“In the last five years, these people have used all their power against me. How am I a terrorist?” he said, mounting a direct attack at the BJP.
“Today, I leave the decision up to the people of Delhi if they think of me as their son, brother or a terrorist?” he said.
Arvind Kejriwal’s party has already filed a formal complaint with the election office.
“Parvesh Verma has openly called Arvind Kejriwal a terrorist. This is an allegation aimed at tarnishing the image of a democratically elected chief minister. This is a blatant violation of model code of conduct…It is requested that an FIR be registered against Verma and CEO Delhi may ban him from campaigning in Delhi assembly elections 2020,” the letter read.
