Former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) SY Quraishi has said he has immense respect for Manmohan Singh, as he recalled an interesting incident when he was told by the former prime minister that he would "commit suicide" after the then poll body chief complained to him over "loose talk" by ministers over how the Election Commission of India (ECI) operates.
Quraishi recalled the incident in his forthcoming book 'India and I: A Hundred Memories, Not a Memoir' in which he hailed Manmohan Singh, while also remembering his days as the CEC from 2010 to 2012.
The incident happened during the 2012 Uttar Pradesh elections when the then Law Minister Salman Khurshid, while speaking at a rally, said the Congress will increase the quota for Muslims to 9 per cent from 4.5 per cent if it comes to power. He recalled the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) "promptly complained of a Model Code violation" after which Khurshid was "censured".
"We held hearings for four days. Abhishek Manu Singhvi led the Congress side, Arun Jaitley the BJP, two formidable minds sparring over where a campaign promise ended and an inducement began. Eventually, we censured Khurshid, the strongest action available under the Code," he said.
However, this left Khurshid upset, with many in the Congress suggesting that the poll body has become "arrogant", the former CEC said in his book, while mentioning that he could have never accepted such "loose talks".
"In passing, I mentioned my grievance. Harish asked, 'Should I tell the Prime Minister?' I said, 'Yes. That is exactly why I'm telling you'," he wrote. "The next day, the RAX (Restricted Access Exchange) phone rang. 'Prime Minister wants to speak to you urgently'. Moments later, Dr Manmohan Singh came on the line, his voice anxious: 'Quraishi ji, can I see you urgently?' The tone suggested he might come to me. I said. 'Sir, you are the Prime Minister, I'll come whenever you say. We fixed 7 pm."
The next day Quraishi arrived at the prime minister's residence, who told him he would "commit suicide", which left him completely surprised. Quraishi said it took him 15 to 20 calm the former prime minister down.
"That he could imagine, even for a moment, that I doubted his intentions was unbearable to him. It took a few minutes to calm him. 'I had absolutely no idea,' he said. 'If I had known, I would have blasted them. If ever you have something to say, just pick up the phone and call me'," Quraishi recalls Singh's words.
"Then he (Singh) added something I've never forgotten: 'The Election Commission is not just India's pride; it is the soul of our democracy. If we lose that, we lose everything," the former CEC says in the book.
Quraishi said he was left shaken, not by politics, but by encountering a "leader for whom constitutional propriety was not a talking point but a lived conviction".
"I immediately shared what had transpired with T.K.A Nair, his Principal Secretary, and Shivshankar Menon, his National Security adviser. Harish, too, spoke of it to common friends. None of us treated it as a secret; it was too important a glimpse into the character of the man leading our country," he says.
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