Arvind Kejriwal, widely seen as the front-runner in the February 8 Assembly elections, has said that the people of the national capital will decide whether he is their son or a “terrorist”, referring to the slur used by a BJP member of Parliament to describe the Delhi chief minister.

“Kal Bhajpa ke kuch netaon ne kaha ki Kejriwal atankwadi hai (Yesterday, a few BJP leaders said that Kejriwal is a terrorist,” Kejriwal told the media on Thursday.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader was referring to Lok Sabha MP Parvesh Verma who used the word to insult the chief minister at an election rally last week. “Terrorists like Kejriwal” were hiding in Delhi, he claimed, adding that he did not understand whether to “fight with Pakistani terrorists in Kashmir or with terrorist Kejriwal in Delhi.”

On Thursday, Kejriwal asked whether providing good education to children, or medicines and healthcare to people, made him a terrorist.

“Does a terrorist do these things?” he asked.

According to widely circulated video of Verma’s speech at a campaign rally, he can be heard referring to Shaheen Bagh, the venue of a sit-in by women continuing for more than a month now, to target Kejriwal.

“If Kejriwal returns, Shaheen-Bagh type of people will take over the streets,” Verma told his supporters.

On Tuesday, Verma had kicked up another controversy by referring to protesters at Shaheen Bagh as “rapists and murderers”. At another public meeting, he assured supporters that he would remove all mosques on government land in his constituency if his party was voted to power.

On Thursday, the election commission barred Verma from campaigning for 96 hours (four days), beginning 5 pm.

Kejriwal also said he had suffered a lot because he exposed corruption among the country’s high and mighty for which he faced several cases.

“I am a diabetes patient. I take insulin four times a day… I went on a hunger strike in this condition against corruption… Doctors said I wouldn’t live for more than 24 hours. I put my life at stake for the country,' Kejriwal said recounting his protests in 2011.

The AAP leader said that in the last five years, he has tried to look after Delhi, which he referred to as his family, like a son. “I leave it to the people of Delhi to decide whether they consider me a son, a brother or a terrorist,” he said.