Editorial Viewpoint
Fighting the good fight
Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) chairman Minoo Shroff's decision not to serve his full term in office means all his energies can now be focused on crucial community issues. Only in mid-November did the uncertainty end over whether to approach the court for permitting Shroff to continue in office till 2009 when his seven-year term would expire or to step down in 2007 as per the revised electoral scheme set down by the Bombay High Court Justice S. U. Kamdar. The application to the High Court to finalize the tortuous election scheme was also partially delayed on account of this issue. Once the formality of obtaining the Court's approval is over, the trusteeship and the Anjuman Committee elections can be held.
Freed from all encumbrances Shroff can as The Bombay Samachar columnist Berjis Desai wrote in his editorial of November 27, "go for the jugular and maul his opponents."
The adversaries consist largely of the World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis (WAPIZ) who have not only prevented the formation of a truly representative world body but have stymied the functioning of the Federation of Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India over the past year (Shroff is also the president of the Federation).
Judging by the strident tones adopted in the fortnightly WAPIZ Page in The Afternoon Despatch and Courier, the orthodox elements are readying for a show of force. Their best platform for doing so is on the floor of the Federation. With the all-India community leaders and the Parsi Press present, there is no better forum on which to enact their biannual shenanigans.
Until now the Federation leadership believed, optimistically, that reason would prevail eventually and once the orthodox had had their say, as they did at the December 2004 gathering in Ahmedabad, they and the anjuman trustees that nominate them to the Federation would behave like prudent individuals. But the Bombay meet in September this year dispelled that notion. Not only did the WAPIZ group show up in larger numbers than before but they dominated the proceedings with endless interruptions, shouts, shows of hand and filibustering.
Whatever program the Federation may plan, it is WAPIZ that determines the agenda. Never mind that most of the WAPIZ leaders and supporters are unelected representatives feigning to safeguard the interests of their supposed anjumans. Or that some of them jump from representing one anjuman to another.
Their brazen disregard for any democratic niceties and the resulting anarchy in the Federation get-togethers raises a crucial question. Does one overlook their blatant contempt for the all-India body's rules, regulations and tradition of harmonious functioning, or does one tackle the foe head on?
The crucial loophole that permits individuals like Khojeste and Firoza Mistree, Yazdi and Anahita Desai, Tannaz Parakh and several others to attend the meetings and disrupt the proceedings is the clause permitting anjumans to nominate any individual to represent them at the Federation gathering.
Thus even though Belgaum has several residents and former residents who now reside in Bombay to represent them, the anjuman's leadership has given the mandate to Khojeste Mistree. (This would be akin to, say Goa, asking someone from Maharashtra to represent their interest at the Center, the assumption being no one in Goa was competent to do the job.) This malfeasance was clearly not the intention of the founding fathers of the Federation when they drafted the representation clause.
Secondly, the BPP has only one vote in the general body despite representing around 65 percent of the Parsi and Irani Zoroastrian population in India.
While the WAPIZ brigade have been carping about India's representation in the now aborted world body being limited to 35 percent, they have no qualms of exploiting Bombay's paucity of votes in the Federation.
The legal interpretation of the Fede
Freed from all encumbrances Shroff can as The Bombay Samachar columnist Berjis Desai wrote in his editorial of November 27, "go for the jugular and maul his opponents."
The adversaries consist largely of the World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis (WAPIZ) who have not only prevented the formation of a truly representative world body but have stymied the functioning of the Federation of Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India over the past year (Shroff is also the president of the Federation).
Judging by the strident tones adopted in the fortnightly WAPIZ Page in The Afternoon Despatch and Courier, the orthodox elements are readying for a show of force. Their best platform for doing so is on the floor of the Federation. With the all-India community leaders and the Parsi Press present, there is no better forum on which to enact their biannual shenanigans.
Until now the Federation leadership believed, optimistically, that reason would prevail eventually and once the orthodox had had their say, as they did at the December 2004 gathering in Ahmedabad, they and the anjuman trustees that nominate them to the Federation would behave like prudent individuals. But the Bombay meet in September this year dispelled that notion. Not only did the WAPIZ group show up in larger numbers than before but they dominated the proceedings with endless interruptions, shouts, shows of hand and filibustering.
Whatever program the Federation may plan, it is WAPIZ that determines the agenda. Never mind that most of the WAPIZ leaders and supporters are unelected representatives feigning to safeguard the interests of their supposed anjumans. Or that some of them jump from representing one anjuman to another.
Their brazen disregard for any democratic niceties and the resulting anarchy in the Federation get-togethers raises a crucial question. Does one overlook their blatant contempt for the all-India body's rules, regulations and tradition of harmonious functioning, or does one tackle the foe head on?
The crucial loophole that permits individuals like Khojeste and Firoza Mistree, Yazdi and Anahita Desai, Tannaz Parakh and several others to attend the meetings and disrupt the proceedings is the clause permitting anjumans to nominate any individual to represent them at the Federation gathering.
Thus even though Belgaum has several residents and former residents who now reside in Bombay to represent them, the anjuman's leadership has given the mandate to Khojeste Mistree. (This would be akin to, say Goa, asking someone from Maharashtra to represent their interest at the Center, the assumption being no one in Goa was competent to do the job.) This malfeasance was clearly not the intention of the founding fathers of the Federation when they drafted the representation clause.
Secondly, the BPP has only one vote in the general body despite representing around 65 percent of the Parsi and Irani Zoroastrian population in India.
While the WAPIZ brigade have been carping about India's representation in the now aborted world body being limited to 35 percent, they have no qualms of exploiting Bombay's paucity of votes in the Federation.
The legal interpretation of the Fede
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