“The great divide”

This refers to the false allegations of Jamshed Mohta in his letter ("The great divide,” Readers’ Forum, Parsiana, August 7, 2005). It is certainly incorrect of Mohta to equate the stand of the Thana Parsi Zoroastrian Anjuman (TPZA), to that of the stand of the "Mistree camp” at Ahmedabad.

The consistent stand taken by the TPZA at Ahmedabad was that a world body should be formed, and that all valid concerns including those regarding the preservation of the ethnic identity of the community should be resolved through appropriate safeguards. This stand had the unanimous approval of the TPZA’s managing committee prior to the Ahmedabad meet. On the other hand, the stand of the Mistree camp was to clearly browbeat the Federation (of Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India) on the issue of the formation of the World Body. The oft repeated claim of the Mistree camp that they had majority support of the anjumans, is suspect and does not bear scrutiny. Several of the 46 anjumans who wrote in to Zoroastrian Studies (ZS) were in favor of further negotiations and did not negate the option of joining the World Body. What is probably more important and less known is that the support claimed by Khojeste Mistree from several anjumans including Baroda and Nagpur were based on letters written by office bearers in their individual capacity and not on any mandate from their anjuman.

The claim that nearly 200 members of TPZA opposed the formation of the World Body, is presumably based on a letter addressed to Mistree at ZS and signed by 159 signatories, in response to the intense emotions whipped up by the inflammatory circulars addressed by ZS and various telephone calls to individual members of the Thana Anjuman prior to our Anjuman elections in January ’05. Even so, it may be noted that the number of signatories (159) is less than one-third of our total membership of 501 (and one-fifth of the total Zoroastrian population) and some of the signatories are not even members of the Anjuman.

It is indeed surprising that though this letter was written on January 23, 2005 we learnt of it only through Mohta’s letter to Parsiana in July 2005 (a copy of which we received on August 5, 2005 courtesy Rusi Mohta, one of our co-trustees). It is also shocking to observe that although the letter is dated January 23, 2005 some of the signatures bear a prior date of January 20, 2005 and many such irregularities.

We also recall that on December 18, 2004 there was an open threat from some of the prominent ZS supporters at Ahmedabad, that the then Thana managing committee would be routed in the next elections. In spite of the uncalled for interference by ZS and The Parsee Voice and some others, who tried to make the formation of the World Body a main election issue, eight of the old committee members were reelected to the 10-member committee with a thumping majority (plus one new member supported by the committee). The record turnout of over 70 percent of the voters of TPZA gave a clear mandate supporting our stand, in favor of committed constructive work for the community and against the mischievous and motivated canvassing of individuals with their own selfish vested interests (unfortunately supported by ZS and The Parsee Voice).

Please note that our principled opposition to the devious ways of the Mistree camp predates the Ahmedabad meet by several months. In June 2004 two of the representatives from Thana were the only two conscientious objectors (at the public meeting at Framjee Cawasjee Hall) to the manipulative tactics employed to scuttle the proposal to build a seven storied residential complex on the grounds of the Dadysett Atash Behram. Whilst these tactics were successful in stalling the construction of the complex, what the community lost was the munificence of Pallonji Mistry which could have resulted in shelter for 70 families in place of the structure that currently accommodates seven families. This illustrates that it is so much easier to gain political visibility by throwing a spanner in the works than by trying to make the wheel go round.

To dismiss the efforts for the formation of the World Body as a "dream of a few rich people living abroad,” is to deny the immense potential that an organized world forum can play in the affairs of our highly enlightened but microscopic community. Similarly to frighten the gullible with exaggerated fears that our community will be swamped by neo-Zoroastrians is also totally untenable. Our community must not succumb to populism when what it needs is leadership. Actions speak louder than words and in Thana, our commitment is illustrated by the fact that as many as 140 flats have been built exclusively for Parsi/Irani Zoroastrians in the last decade.

Another contention of Mohta that "it is isolation which has brought our community to the present level of prosperity,” is patently ridiculous. On the contrary it has been our adaptability, our faithfulness to the land of our birth, our spirit of adventure, tolerant and enlightened approach that has endeared our community to the majority anywhere in the world, and more so our ability to change with time, has enabled us to survive and prosper. As the story says, when the ruler of Sanjan, Jadi Rana, showed them a full pot of milk the Parsis stirred sugar in it, indicating just how seamlessly and unobtrusively they would fit in, being part of them, accepting their culture and spreading sweetness.

The claim that "supporting the WZO is tantamount to legitimizing conversion through such organizations to make a backdoor entry not only into our religion but also to avail of community benefits” is totally baseless as such benefits cannot be enjoyed by Brazilian or Russian Zoroastrians without the clear consent of the trustees of various Parsi trusts, because each country’s federation would be governed by their own constitution and the decisions of the board of trustees of individual trusts are final. As the proposed World Body was to have a federal structure, the autonomy of the national federations as also of the member anjumans of each federation would be fully protected. In India even the government is restricted from imposing any decision that is contrary to the clauses of the trust constitution, unless so directed by the judiciary (for which we all are bound as citizens of India).

Further, Mohta’s imagination runs riot when he refers to "the negative role played by community publications. Instead of giving balanced news and justice to the sentiment of a majority of anjumans and the community as a whole, they have preferred to give a one-sided story. Every effort was discouraged and given a different hue. This is nothing but a mockery of journalism which may succeed for the time being but not forever. The sooner they realize this truth, the better for them and the community.” This is totally wrong and baseless because to the best of our knowledge and belief we have seen Parsiana giving equal justice to both sides of the stories as well as their own opinion, which is the fundamental right of any publication.

The need of the hour is consolidation of our far flung and thinly dispersed Parsi diaspora across the world and preservation of our unique brand of Parsipanu for future generations. It is time we mobilize all efforts towards this objective and strengthen the hands of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet and the Federation. And finally as Lord Keynes observed, "Men will do the rational thing — but only after exploring all other alternatives.” We hope the explorations are over.

R. M. CURSETJI

For the Board of Trustees

Thana Parsi Zoroastrian Anjuman