Adenwalla's affirmations

"The economy will play a major role. George Bush has a very good chance of re-election.” Law­rence University’s professor emeritus of political science Dr Minoo Adenwalla’s prognosis of the situa­tion in the United States, made during a brief meeting with Par­siana on August 7, 2004 was authenticated by events in November. Adenwalla was on a visit to Bombay during which he addressed the Indian Liberal Group on recent developments in affirmative action in the US. ‘Affirmative action’ is the American parlance for programs to redress past discrimination against groups and commu­nities which relegated them to second class citizenship. In India we know this as ‘reservation.’

The legal battle over the proper interpretation of the American Constitution’s 14th amendment’s "Equal Protection Clause” began with the Civil Rights Cases of 1883. The notorious Plessy v Fergus­son case of 1896 however was a serious setback to the movement with its doctrine of "separate but equal” under which the States saw a slew of discriminatory legislation against Afro-American citizens. These laws were not challenged until the middle of the the 20th century which culminated with the famous school desegregation case, Brown v Board of Education in 1954. While it overturned the Plessy v Fergusson judgement, attempts for preferential treatment or affirmative action were required to be justified by past discriminatory practices in the field in question impacting higher education, government contracts, etc, explained Adenwalla. However, as someone in the audience remarked, reservation in India is at a different level of impact altogether as it tries to rectify not 200 years of discrimination but 5,000! — a remark with which Adenwalla was in complete con­sonance.

Adenwalla: different interpretations

The former Professor of Government and the Mary Mortimer Professor of Liberal Studies who retired in June 2003 says he still teaches an occasional course in Indian politics at Lawrence which is part of a consortium of 13 private liberal arts colleges up to the BA level. They had a program with Poona’s Deccan Col­lege until Indira Gandhi cancelled all foreign programs in 1972, he informs us. Thereafter they affiliated with Poona University when Prof Vasant Shirkhikar was head of the department of polit­ics. Now they have an ongoing program with the Tilak Vidhyapeeth. His articles and reviews continue to appear in various journals and publications. He is a regular contributor to the Indian quarterly Freedom First and The Economic Times of Bangla Desh.

Adenwalla is guardedly optimistic about the new generation coming into public affairs in India. He believes they are better educated and have a greater sense of realism. If India can check its runaway population and fissiparous political parties, he believes the country is likely to make substantial headway.

Adenwalla’s view of the Zoroastrian community is negatively impacted by "the Parsi internet.” Indeed, he said he was disgust­ed by some of the postings. "If Parsis have to survive (as a community) discrimination against Parsi women is disgraceful and should be rectified,” he says, alluding to the gender bias against the acceptance of Parsi women’s children into the faith. He also believes that "those who show understanding of the Zo­roastrian faith and want to be converted should be allowed.” Having been married to the late Mary June for 20 years, he con­cedes he may be biased against the usual arguments for marriage within the community. He also admits that not all children of interfaith marriages may be inclined to or interested in becoming Zoroastrians. Of his own two daughters, Elizabeth Shireen, a clinical psychologist, is married to Homi Kapadia of the consultancy firm Deloitte Touche; Shiela Ann who teaches veterinary science is married to Michael Price.

A descendant of Aden’s Sir Hormusji Cowasji Dinshaw’s brother Sorabji, Aden­walla gradu­ated with honors in English Literature from Bombay University, then acquired his MS and PhD in Political Science from Northwest­ern University. Prior to joining Lawrence, he had taught at the University of Missouri. "I am not a staunch Zoroastrian like my grandparents,” he says. Philosophizing on the avid controversies that divide the community he adds, "The religious experience is the same but it is interpreted differently by followers of di­fferent (schools of the faith), leading to the creation of ritu­als with different subjective beliefs. Instead of the common experience creating unity, these followers end up creating dis­unity” and recommends to Parsiana the book Religion and the Modern Mind by Walter Terence Stace which was published in the 1950s.

But political science remains Aden­walla’s abiding love. When we enthuse about the vigor of Indian democracy as demonstrated by the unexpected results of the Indian general election, he gently reminds us, "The right to vote put Hitler in power.”