Mistree's Message

There are few individuals who over the last 30 years have had such a profound impact on international community developments as Khojeste Mistree. Without holding any form of public office he has affected the course of community thinking globally. Perhaps the only other person of comparable influence on Zoroastrian thinking could be Prof Kaikhosrov Irani. But advancing age and infirmities have in recent years restricted the New York based philosopher’s ability to spread his liberal message across the continents.

Mistree in contrast is still robust but in recent times his support base has shrunk. His following in the West has diminished and he now refers to the North American Zoroastrians as "moneybags,” "mandarins,” people whom we should "maro goli (to hell with them).” The "neo-Zoroastrians,” those who have converted to Zoroastrianism largely in Latin America, Europe and Eurasia are dismissed as "altoo faltoos (worthless).”

Even the audience at the Framjee Cawasjee Hall meet on October 21 was a far cry from the youthful and animated audiences who once thronged his talks. Perhaps Mistree sensing this shift may have selected colloquial Gujarati terms of debasement rather than sophisticated English terminology to admonish his perceived adversaries. Despite providing transport facilities to some of those attending, the hall was filled but not to capacity. And several in the audience, judging by the questions they asked, didn’t seem to have a profound comprehension of the issues raised. One elderly man asked when the term ‘Zoroastrian’ crept into the community. Mistree kept distinguishing Parsis from Zoroastrians; Parsis denoting Parsi Zoroastrians and Zoroastrians pertaining to all and sundry. It was not clear whether the querist meant the term Zoroastrian had no place in the community or why it had replaced the nomenclature, Zarathushti. When Mistree repeatedly maligned a particular person, institution or idea the audience chorused "shame” against the concerned individual and demanded action against those singled out.

Though the Oxford educated community activist said it was not his intention to attack anyone personally he went on to blast three sitting trustees of the Bombay Parsi Pun­chayet (BPP) — Dinshaw Tamboly, Dadi Engineer and Burjor Antia (terming Tamboly "an extraordinary” individual because of the clout he wields), and Keki Gandhi, honorary secretary of the Federation of Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India. "Is there nobody else who can do his job?” Mistree asked.

With characteristic aplomb Mistree told the gathering that while his organization Zoroastrian Studies (ZS) concentrated on religious education and would continue to do so, he was now going "political.” Of course, Mistree has always been political, but what he no doubt meant was that he was now making it offi­cial.

With an Anjuman Committee election in the offing (the Bombay High Court willing), and trusteeship elections starting March 2007 (unless a vacancy occurs earlier) his new political avatar means he may be active in the elections. His core group of supporters include Yezdi Desai who tried unsuccessfully to contest the BPP trusteeship election against Tamboly after orthodox speaker and columnist Noshir Dadrawala backed out, Desai’s wife Anahita, Tannaz and Sohrab Parakh — all three of whom had worked tirelessly to support Desai’s candidature. All four have been active in helping to organize meetings under The Parsee Voice banner to attack the Federation for daring to debate controversial issues such as adoption, interfaith marriage, a unified calendar, etc at the Bardoli meet in November 2003 and to stall the proposed housing development for lower income Parsis at the Dadysett Atash Beh­ram, having succeeded in the latter.

Mistree’s talk was under the ZS (A Light in Darkness) auspices and he explained that while he had spoken under the auspices of several organizations this was the first time he was addressing a gathering under the this banner.

The subject of his talk was "Is Parsi-ism under Threat?” A "provocative” title, as he stated, but perhaps a more defensive one in reality. What was Parsi-ism under threat from? A World Body (WB) of Zoroastrians. What was the solution? A World Body of Parsi Zoroastrians or failing that just the BPP functioning for all Parsis would do. As he had said at the Federation meeting in Bombay in June this year, the world should come and "do sahebji, salaam to us and not us do sahebji, salaam to them.” There was no need for a WB when the BPP, ZS and other organizations could tend to the global flock.

The formation of the Indian Federation had been similarly disputed when efforts were made to form it in the 1960s. Though the BPP had ­­with­­­drawn from the Federation in 1978 on fallacious grounds, it had no choice but to rejoin the national body as its locus standi to represent all the Zoroastrians in India was questioned by the government and others.

If a world body of Zoroastrians were formed, Mistree argued, it would only be a matter of time before neo-Zoroastrians would come to Bombay and demand entrance to our fire-temples. And since the Eurasian Zoroastrians would claim Iranian lineage which court would deny them admission?

There was a "hidden agenda” and he and his association were going to expose it and prevent its implementation.

Mistree claimed that though the majority of Parsi Zoroastrians re­-side in India, the country was not given overriding powers. But he made no reference to the 90,000 Zoro­­as­trians in Iran who are clearly the largest concentration of co-religionists in the world. If anyone should have overriding powers on the basis of numbers alone, it would be Iran.

Mistree is a skilled orator both as a scholar and as a politician. But he will learn like the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders L. K. Advani, Narendra Modi and others of their ilk that sowing seeds of discord also raises expectations. You can win one election but finally the voters expect you to deliver the goods. They want to see an improvement in their lives and their surroundings. Raising the bogey of the religion being under attack is not going to stop the community numbers from falling. It will not save our properties from encroachment. It will not prevent interfaith marriages.

Mistree’s official entry into politics will force the orthodox to come up with a positive agenda (in addition to the negative). Mistree will be subject to questioning like any other publicly elected official. He will have to function in a team, be one of seven equals. He will have to be answerable. The bluster of the pulpit will have to give way to reason, thoughtfulness and cooperation. He will learn from former BPP trustee Rustom Tirandaz’s experience that claiming to be a defender of the faith is not sufficient to ensure reelection.

To counter his critics’ allegations that he was not "honest,” Mistree prefaced his talk saying he had arranged for a video recording of the evening’s proceedings. Should any dispute arise over what was stated the tape would stand testimony. Perhaps this is the first positive step. Mistree has been decried on occasions for throwing up fallacious facts and figures to support his causes without any verification or supporting documentation.

But the realization that he has to be "honest” and answerable is in itself a first step in the right direction. Mistree has spent over 30 years educating the community about Zoroastrianism. It is only fair that his education by the community should now begin.