New Delhi: Former chief election commissioner S.Y. Quraishi has said that while religious identities are used by some to fuel hateful politics, he believes in an idea of India where “an individual is defined by his or her talents and contributions and not by their religious identities.”Quraishi’s measured response, to the news agency PTI, comes a day after Bharatiya Janata Party MP Nishikant Dubey called the former CEC a “Muslim commissioner” in an extraordinary outpouring of vitriol.A 1971-batch Indian Administrative Service officer, Quraishi has also served as a secretary in the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.“I served on a constitutional post of Election Commissioner to the best of my ability and had a long and fulfilling career in the IAS. I believe in an idea of India where an individual is defined by his or her talents and contributions and not by their religious identities,” Quraishi told PTI.“But I guess, for some, religious identities are a staple to forward their hateful politics. India has, is and will always stand up and fight for its constitutional institutions and principles,” he added.Quraishi has been a lively critic of governance and government policies, and has kept a keen eye on the way things are run. In his latest interview for The Wire, with Karan Thapar, he had made incisive comments on how the Supreme Court’s “prestige has taken a beating” and it has “allowed itself to be bullied and run over”.On April 17, Quraishi, posted on X on the BJP government’s much criticised Waqf (Amendment) Act which proposes sweeping changes to the system of running waqfs or Islamic charitable endowments and is being challenged in the Supreme Court. “Wakf Act is undoubtedly a blatantly sinister evil plan of the govt to grab Muslim lands. I’m sure SC will call it out. Misinformation by the mischievous propaganda machine has done its job well,” Quraishi wrote.On April 20, MP Dubey took to X in response to Quraishi’s post from two days ago. He began his diatribe with the line, “You were not an election commissioner, you were a Muslim commissioner.”The four-time MLA from Godda then continued: “The maximum number of Bangladeshi infiltrators were made voters in Jharkhand’s Santhalpargana during your tenure. Prophet Muhammad’s Islam came to India in 712. This land (waqf), before that, belonged to Hindus or tribals, Jains or Buddhists associated with that faith. My village Vikramshila was burnt by Bakhtiar Khilji in 1189, Vikramshila University gave the world its first vice chancellor in the form of Atish Dipankar. Unite this country, read history. Pakistan was created by dividing it. There will be no partition now.”It is unclear which historical sources Dubey drew his facts from. His remarks were criticised by opposition parties, Congress and Aam Aadmi Party.Dubey’s religious insult came a day after his vitriolic attack on the Supreme Court and Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, blaming him for “religious wars” in India. BJP was then forced to distance itself from the controversial remarks. BJP has been silent on Dubey’s comments on Quraishi.K Mahesh, who is the honorary president of Delhi Administration Officers Academic Forum, also backed Quraishi and said he was a phenomenon as both the election commissioner and the chief election commissioner.“He held these great assignments with aplomb and distinction and greatly enriched the institution of the Election Commission by introducing a series of reforms. For example, he established a voters education division, expenditure control division and he also founded the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management,” Mahesh told PTI.