Editorial Viewpoint
A time of reckoning?
The approaching Federation of Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India meeting on September 3 and 4, 2005 at the Banaji Atash Behram hall has all the makings of a cliff hanger.
On one side are aligned the anjumans of Bombay, Delhi, Jamshedpur, Calcutta, Madras, Allahabad, Lucknow, Agra and maybe Mhow.
On the other end of the spectrum are the die-hard traditionalist anjumans of Ahmedabad, Poona, Bardoli, Dahanu, Vyara-Songadh, Belgaum, Khergaum and Panchgani, amongst others.
In between anjumans such as Hyderabad-Secunderabad, Borivli, Davier, the Iranian Zoroastrian Anjuman, Surat, Saronda, Thana and Baroda, though opposed to some conditions in the International Zoroastrian Organization (IZO) constitution, may not support the extremist World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis' (WAPIZ) viewpoint. In Nagpur the leadership appears divided.
Following the rowdyism at the December 2004 Ahmedabad meet, the Federation executives have taken the precaution to ensure that letters authorizing representatives to attend the meet are received from the various anjumans.
Jamshed J. Irani, Kt, former managing director of Tata Steel, a director of Tata Sons and president of the Jamshedpur Parsee Association who has been reportedly coopted as vice president from the East Zone in place of the late Homi Bodhanwalla, is expected to attend the meet. The seven trustees of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP), the majority of whom usually shy away from the two-day meet even when it is held in Bombay, are also expected to be present. Thus the chances of a ruckus occurring are few. The orthodox group, having stymied the formation of the proposed World Body at the Eighth World Zoroastrian Congress in London this June-July, should be content to sit back and bask in their glory.
But their acrimony has not lessened. Orthodox spokesperson Khojeste Mistree in his Zoroastrian Studies newsletter Ushta (combined issue for the months of December 2004, March and June 2005, apparently published in August 2005) hits out publicly at BPP chairman Minoo Shroff for the first time. Till now Mistree has always said he wanted to "strengthen Shroff's hands" though now he seems more intent on breaking them! In the Ushta newsletter Mistree charges:
"Rumors against the BPP range from their new-found love of lucre to the chairman's alleged desire to also be chairman of the World Body and to his personal partiality to the persuasive reformist policies of the Zoroastrians from abroad ...the image (of the BPP) is of an ailing beleaguered scandal ridden Punchayet ensnared by its own lack of religious conviction and fueled by money power to go where angels would fear to tread... somewhere along the line (Shroff's) own lack of personal conviction in the traditions and religion of his forefathers and the presence of a hard liner in the form of (BPP trustee) Dinshaw Tamboly who with his money power constantly pushes the WZO (World Zoroastrian Organisation) agenda... has blurred the lines that should separate personal conviction from institutional good."
Mistree goes on to attack the Parsi Press for "their inability to project a fair unbiased report (on the Ahmedabad Federation meet which) smacked of an unprofessional, irresponsible work ethic...even the editor of Parsiana was caught hotfoot on the issue of regularly printing unsubstantiated and incomplete birth rate figures. He shuffled miserably at the Federation meeting and looked distinctly uncomfortable when caught out on the misleading birth figures dished out every month in Parsiana. When asked where the figures come from, his response shockingly was that Parsiana tapped only some hospitals in South Bombay."
It's "shocking" to Mistree because for all his claims to scholarship he has apparently never read the introduction to Parsiana's Milestones column which clearly states "the birth figures for Bombay are supplied by two hospitals - births in suburban hospitals an
On one side are aligned the anjumans of Bombay, Delhi, Jamshedpur, Calcutta, Madras, Allahabad, Lucknow, Agra and maybe Mhow.
On the other end of the spectrum are the die-hard traditionalist anjumans of Ahmedabad, Poona, Bardoli, Dahanu, Vyara-Songadh, Belgaum, Khergaum and Panchgani, amongst others.
In between anjumans such as Hyderabad-Secunderabad, Borivli, Davier, the Iranian Zoroastrian Anjuman, Surat, Saronda, Thana and Baroda, though opposed to some conditions in the International Zoroastrian Organization (IZO) constitution, may not support the extremist World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis' (WAPIZ) viewpoint. In Nagpur the leadership appears divided.
Following the rowdyism at the December 2004 Ahmedabad meet, the Federation executives have taken the precaution to ensure that letters authorizing representatives to attend the meet are received from the various anjumans.
Jamshed J. Irani, Kt, former managing director of Tata Steel, a director of Tata Sons and president of the Jamshedpur Parsee Association who has been reportedly coopted as vice president from the East Zone in place of the late Homi Bodhanwalla, is expected to attend the meet. The seven trustees of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP), the majority of whom usually shy away from the two-day meet even when it is held in Bombay, are also expected to be present. Thus the chances of a ruckus occurring are few. The orthodox group, having stymied the formation of the proposed World Body at the Eighth World Zoroastrian Congress in London this June-July, should be content to sit back and bask in their glory.
But their acrimony has not lessened. Orthodox spokesperson Khojeste Mistree in his Zoroastrian Studies newsletter Ushta (combined issue for the months of December 2004, March and June 2005, apparently published in August 2005) hits out publicly at BPP chairman Minoo Shroff for the first time. Till now Mistree has always said he wanted to "strengthen Shroff's hands" though now he seems more intent on breaking them! In the Ushta newsletter Mistree charges:
"Rumors against the BPP range from their new-found love of lucre to the chairman's alleged desire to also be chairman of the World Body and to his personal partiality to the persuasive reformist policies of the Zoroastrians from abroad ...the image (of the BPP) is of an ailing beleaguered scandal ridden Punchayet ensnared by its own lack of religious conviction and fueled by money power to go where angels would fear to tread... somewhere along the line (Shroff's) own lack of personal conviction in the traditions and religion of his forefathers and the presence of a hard liner in the form of (BPP trustee) Dinshaw Tamboly who with his money power constantly pushes the WZO (World Zoroastrian Organisation) agenda... has blurred the lines that should separate personal conviction from institutional good."
Mistree goes on to attack the Parsi Press for "their inability to project a fair unbiased report (on the Ahmedabad Federation meet which) smacked of an unprofessional, irresponsible work ethic...even the editor of Parsiana was caught hotfoot on the issue of regularly printing unsubstantiated and incomplete birth rate figures. He shuffled miserably at the Federation meeting and looked distinctly uncomfortable when caught out on the misleading birth figures dished out every month in Parsiana. When asked where the figures come from, his response shockingly was that Parsiana tapped only some hospitals in South Bombay."
It's "shocking" to Mistree because for all his claims to scholarship he has apparently never read the introduction to Parsiana's Milestones column which clearly states "the birth figures for Bombay are supplied by two hospitals - births in suburban hospitals an
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From the archive