Met Sheikh Hasina in 2014, explained importance of credible elections, says SY Quraishi

New Delhi: Former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) S.Y. Quraishi on Tuesday recalled his meetings with former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, saying he had discussed with her the importance of maintaining the credibility and independence of the Election Commission.

Reflecting on their interactions, Quraishi said Hasina was initially “a bit defensive” but remained receptive to his views on the need for credible elections.

Recalling the circumstances that led to the meeting, Quraishi told IANS: “In 2014, I had retired already for 2 years, so I was going to Bangladesh for some lecture. But the then High Commissioner of Bangladesh in India said: ‘Sir, if you are meeting Sheikh Hasina, please tell her the importance of the Election Commission and its credibility’. So, that was very important and significant.”

He said he subsequently sought a courtesy meeting with Sheikh Hasina, which she readily agreed to. According to Quraishi, he attended the meeting along with the then Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Pankaj Saran, while Hasina was accompanied by seven of her senior advisors.

“I sought an appointment, a courtesy call with Sheikh Hasina, and she readily agreed. I went with my High Commissioner, Pankaj Saran. She came with seven of her top advisors as if it was a formal meeting and a summit. I was just a retired CEC, but India had that image and that reputation that even a retired CEC enjoys a lot of respect and credibility,” he said.

Quraishi said the meeting lasted for more than an hour, during which he explained why public confidence in the Election Commission and the conduct of credible elections were essential for a democracy.

“She (Hasina) was a bit defensive, but also receptive to the idea. And this was a very nice meeting; then we met ten years later just before this recent controversial election, and then she looked a little tired, and then she complained that she suspects that foreign powers are trying to unseat her; they want a change of regime. So, which is exactly what happened,” Quraishi added.

Quraishi’s remarks came against the backdrop of the release of his latest book, ‘India and I: A Hundred Memories, Not a Memoir’, in which he has also written about his interactions with the former Bangladesh Prime Minister.

In the book, he recounts another meeting with Sheikh Hasina in late 2023, when he visited Bangladesh as the head of an election observers’ delegation ahead of the country’s general elections. He wrote that the then Prime Minister appeared “visibly strained” during their interaction.

Reflecting on that conversation in his book, Quraishi writes, “She spoke bluntly about what she saw as external attempts, particularly by the United States, to engineer regime change.”

IANS