“A regime change”

"Entry restricted to Parsi/Irani Zoroastrians of Ahmedabad only. No outsiders including the Press will be allowed to enter the premises.”

The signs strung up on bamboos at two entrances of the Dhunjisha Edulji Anklesaria Memorial Hall greeted voters to the June 3, 2007 Ahmedabad Parsi Panchayat (APP) trusteeship and managing committee elections.

The restriction devised to deny Parsiana entry to the five-yearly elections (though this time the elections were held after seven-and-a-half years) also barred entry to the annual general meeting (AGM) held before the elections to former Ahmedabadis who happened to be in town that day. They had to sit outside the hall with the unwelcome Press visitor or remain at home. Normally the last two rows in the meeting hall are reserved for non-members, no­ted long-time resident Mehernosh Bhathena and Nil­ou­fer Sadri (née Commissariat) who currently resides in Lucknow. An active volunteer in the Parsi Youth League of Ahmedabad, Sadri had gone from door-to-door collecting old bottles and newspapers to raise funds for poor Parsis. Now settled in Lucknow she chatted with the voters as they left the hall after casting their ballots.

The AGM passed off uneventfully except for APP president Areez Khambatta bellowing at his bête noire, former APP trustee Porus Karanjawalla, over some technicality. Karanjawalla retorted and the meeting moved on to other subjects.

As loud speakers were placed in the hall it was possible to catch snatches of the goings-on outside but Khambatta’s tendency to bellow into the microphone made his voice indistinct and difficult to decipher.

Mehernosh Damania, a retired Central Bank of India executive, was nominated to conduct the elections and informed Parsiana they would not be allowed in the election area. He subsequently apologized for the ban and said, "I feel guilty.” But he was obligated to carry out the dictates of the trustees. Parsiana was also prevented from taking any photographs of the electoral process by a staff member of the APP.

Above right: APP building complex with Anklesaria Hall. Left: Reception area for conducting voter formalities

Parsiana had sent text messages to Karanjawalla, and APP trustee and Khambatta confidant Farokh Kavina that the magazine representative would attend the meet. Karanjawalla responded "most welcome” while Kavina answered "welcome to Ahmedabad, shall be pleased to meet you.” Karanjawalla came to know of the bar when he entered the hall on the morning of the elections.

What neither of them anticipated was Khambatta’s venom at Parsiana especially for publicizing the imbroglio at the Federation of Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India meeting in December 2004 in Ahmedabad. The watershed historic meeting saw Khambatta along with Khojeste Mistree and his Surat supporters shout down and berate Madras Parsi Zarthosti Anjuman president Nariman Mogrelia when he spoke about the results of a poll favoring the entry of the children of Parsi mothers married to non-Parsis into the Jal Phiroz Clubwala Dar-e-Meher. It was the first time in the all India body’s history that a meeting had been so disrupted and that too for almost 40 minutes. Khambatta will continue as vice-president of the Federation, west zone B, until the next Annual General Meeting, notes Federation joint honorary secretary Keki Gandhi.

Ever ready to take offence at any slight, real or imagined, Khambatta retaliated by ensuring Parsiana was kept at bay on election day. Even at the evening function when the results were announced he ordered the Parsiana representative out of the hall stating, "The morning meeting is still in progress. Rules are rules, not to be bent” to suit people’s convenience.

Noted Ahmedabad criminal lawyer, former APP president and newly elected trustee Kersi J. Shethna, a mild-mannered and a soft-spoken individual, who received the highest number of votes (484) in the trusteeship election left the hall for a few minutes to personally apologize to the Parsiana representative. He was followed by Dr Behram S. Anklesaria who received the second highest number of votes (409) who also expressed his regrets to Parsiana for the unceremonious treatment meted out.

The sympathy for the treatment meted out to Parsiana may not be a result of Ahmedabad Parsis being in favor of the magazine’s liberal views but rather for the uncouth treatment meted out to a visitor from out of town. In most of the smaller metropolises, cities and towns in India, a guest is always made welcome even if one disagrees with his/her point of view. Therefore Khambatta’s audacity was viewed with loathing.

After the results were announced and the crowd began to disperse, Kavina and one or two of his associates were speaking to the Parsiana representative when Khambatta chanced by and chastised them for "wasting time” chatting with such an individual. Turning to the media person Khambatta averred: "You are encouraging conversion and convertists (sic). You are not fit to be a Parsi. You should be ashamed to call yourself a Parsi,” and so saying indicated to those present to follow him for the dinner at the adjoining APP premises.

Anklesaria whose father was a former president of the APP told Parsiana earlier in the day that younger people were standing for election to the managing committee as they sensed "a regime change” was in the offing. As a gynecologist (he is president of the Federation of Obstetrics and Gynaecological Societies of India and the Indian Menopause Society) he said he saw no reason for the community to discriminate between the children of Parsi men married to non-Parsis and Parsi women married out. If anything, genetic characteristics were more likely to be passed on from the mother rather than the father, the medical man observed. A few days before the elections he said Khambatta had phoned him cautioning him not to do anything that would offend religious sentiments.

Shethna, who rose from poverty and whose life-time ambition at one stage was to be a railway guard and raise the lantern for the mail trains, also gave the impression of being a fair-minded and reasonable individual. Navroze Kanga, a former joint secretary of the APP who resigned over a tussle with Khambatta and won the third largest number of votes (336), also stated that he had become disillusioned with the extreme stance taken by some of the orthodox leaders.

Kanga, who was on a trip to Iran prior to the holding of the elections, alleged Khambatta and his board of trustees maneuvered the dates of the election so as to bar him from taking part. Kanga along with Dr Armaity Davar who was also on the tour and stood successfully for the managing committee, managed to get their forms faxed/couriered in time for the elections.

The circulation of the forms for candidacy stirred up a controversy to which Jehangir R. J. Cama, a prominent Ahmeda­bad businessman and hotelier was moved to write to Khambatta: "I had not even bothered to read the letter in English and Gujarati so kindly posted by you to me in some misguided belief that I might find them of some interest. However Ms Zarin Cambatta informed me today that you had taken time out (to) level all sorts of stupid statements against me in this letter.

"I therefore read through the same today and I must confess that I found the contents as obnoxious as to be beneath contempt and quite undeserving of any clarifications, rejoinders or reply…

"The Panchayat and the community need persons of vision, not merely self-perceived leaders whose vision cannot extend beyond their own noses… I have decided to circulate this letter because if I kept quiet in spite of the language used by you… you might believe that you have been able to bully me into silence. I am sure a large part of the community would like to convey to you that mere display and boasting about money does not cover everything in life. Perhaps a study of the principles of Zoroastrianism might help you to clear your own mind.’’

As time was limited and access to the hall forbidden, Parsiana could not speak to the other newly elected trustee Soli J. Unwalla (330 votes) and the managing committee members. Except for Kavina who polled the fifth largest (320) number of votes (at the last election in December 2000 he had polled the highest number) no one else from the Khambatta camp won the trusteeship seats.

Signs greeting visitors at entrances to election venue

The successful managing committee members are Dr Armaity Davar (464), Kersi Daruwalla (394), Arsheesh J. Commissariat (371), Pervez Wadia (347), Cyrus R. Dastur (330), Minoo Gandhi (286), Dr Rusi Rao (279) and Firdos Kapadia (27); joint honorary secretaries Firoz H. Davar and Cavas Shethna came in unopposed. Around 655 votes were cast of which 10 were invalid. This was one of the highest turnouts in recent times.

The biggest upset of the day was the loss of Karanjawalla by 20 votes to Kavina. Ka­ran­ja­walla had borne the full wrath of Kham­batta ever since the ill fated Federation meeting and was the prime mover for holding of the overdue elections. He had resigned his seat some months earlier in protest against the present board of trustees and the managing committee staying in office beyond the statutory period prescribed in the body’s constitution. The Khambatta camp’s justification for the delay was that they were awaiting a clarification from the Charity Commissioner regarding the number of women eligible to stand for election. The trustees look after the funds and properties of the Panchayat while the managing committee oversees the day-to-day activities, stated Karanja­walla.

Kanga and Karanjawalla stood as independents while Anklesaria and Unwalla were on Shethna’s panel. Shethna who was recently reelected president of the Gujarat High Court Advocates Association said that while he did not have to canvas for the legal post, for the APP elections he went door-to-door campaigning. This despite the fact that Shethna is exceedingly popular in Ahmedabad and is known to readily assist people in difficulty. He was unanimously elected president of the APP at a meeting of the trustees held on June 4, 2007, informed Kanga.

Ahmedabad is still viewed as an orthodox stronghold and the anti-incumbency factor that propelled rational minded individuals to office may not necessarily be construed to mean a change of heart. But it is an indication that extreme orthodoxy, however presented, is no longer in vogue.