Upholding Parsipanu

For the first time in the 300-year-old hoary history of the Bombay Parsi Punchayat (BPP), its trustees will be elected directly by each and every member of the community wherever situated. This will be a turning point in the history of the BPP.

Over the centuries trusteeship was held by illustrious Parsi Zoroastrians having impeccable character, integrity and sterling qualities of head and heart. They were great and good persons commanding respect from every section of society. These great human beings had time, energy and money for the BPP. Because members of the community had great faith in the trustees, they donated their properties, movable and immovable, worth crores of rupees to the BPP. The trustees scrupulously honored their trust. Above all, they were upholders of our religious principles and protectors of our community’s interests. In short, they were dharma rakshak (defenders of the faith) and com parast (community friendly), true leaders of the community in the real sense.

A great responsibility now lies on each and every member of our community. First, to get themselves registered as voters on payment of Rs 10 and then to exercise their voting rights wisely to elect people with impeccable character, integrity and standing in society who will care for members of our community, particularly the poor strata.

The voters should not only carefully scrutinize the manifesto of each and every candidate for trusteeship and their past track record, but also of the sponsors of the candidates so that persons with vested interests, hidden agendas or dubious reputation do not become trustees.

Antia: ‘Scrutinize the manifesto’

Voters should not elect candidates who consider trusteeship of the BPP as an office of profit, or for giving benefits to their family and friends, or to act as agents of a particular group. In short, candidates should be independent in thought and straightforward in their dealings.

Voters should also remember that the BPP has existed for more than 300 years because it upheld the principles and traditions of our religion and race, as guided from time to time by our high priests and gave paramount importance to the preservation of our religious principles and traditions.

In the past, trustees never adopted selfish or short-sighted policies or encouraged mixed marriages or believed in conversion or giving benefit of the trust to the progeny of Parsi ladies who have married non-Parsis or allowed our sacred Doongerwadi land to be used for non-Zoroastrian methods of disposal of the dead. In short, until now, the trustees of the Punchayet have always upheld and promoted Parsipanu.

Man always shapes his future from his experience of the past. An American statesman remarked: "I have got one lamp by which my feet should be guided and this is the lamp of my experience. I know of no way of judging the future but by the past.” So, in my humble view, if the BPP has to exist for all times to come, it should adhere to what the trustees have followed until now. If the new trustees try to reverse the aforesaid principles and policies, that will be the beginning of the end of the BPP and, with it, that of the Parsi community.

Unfortunately, in recent times, some pseudo intelligentsia groups have surfaced in our community. They find fault with our religious principles, customs and usages and our high priests and want our Punchayet to change its policy in the religious and social fields. I humbly remind these people what Nobel laureates Will and Ariel Durant said in their classic treatise The Lessons of History: "Intellect is therefore a vital force in history, but it can also be a dissolvent and destructive power. Out of every 100 new ideas 99 or more will probably be inferior to the traditional responses which they propose to replace. No one man, however brilliant or well-informed, can come in one lifetime to such fullness of understanding as to safely judge and dismiss the customs or institutions of his society, for these are the wisdom of generations after centuries of experiment in the laboratory of history.”

I repeat that great responsibility lies on the Parsis to get themselves registered as voters and elect trustees having the qualities mentioned above so that peace, progress and prosperity are ushered into our community, and our Punchayet remains strong and endures.

Burjor Antia is a trustee of three atash behrams and nearly half a dozen agiaries. He is a trustee of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet and a partner in the legal firm Mulla and Mulla and Craigie Blunt and Caroe.