Editorial Viewpoint
Tugging at the heart strings
The meeting started on a stormy note, candidates and their supporters raising objections, questioning bonafides, a candidate grabbing a microphone, a sitting Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) trustee castigating his co-trustees.
The scene was more reminiscent of our country’s Parliament than a meeting to explain the modalities of the BPP elections to the candidates.
But after having exerted much energy and lung power, the meet at the Muncherji Khareghat Hall in Khareghat Colony on September 9, 2008 convened by the BPP trustees quietened down. Elections appear to tug at the heart-strings of those involved in the political process. And this being the first election under universal adult franchise (UAF) for the Bombay community and with 33 candidates in the fray for seven seats, one could understand the unease and confusion.
That common sense and decency prevailed at the end, with several constructive and practical suggestions made, demonstrates that the election should be fairly fought and conducted.
Most of the election meets that Parsiana has covered and others from which reports have circulated, show them to be orderly and civilized. Only in an Adult Franchise for Progress (AFP) meet in Dadar, a World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis (WAPIZ) supporter and her relatives were alleged to have created a scene, according to both the Jam-e-Jamshed Weekly of September 7, 2008 and an AFP organizer.
Still the elections appear more peaceful than the Federation of Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India meetings of 2004 onwards. As a matter of fact the disruption in the latter gatherings resulted in the all-India body not holding a meet for the past two years, with potential host anjumans apprehensive about the outcome. At the Federation meets the trouble was caused largely by people not elected to any anjumans and often without any connection to the place.
With elections under UAF, the new BPP trustees, whoever they be, will have a wider mandate to act. The community’s expectations have been raised. Not since 1980 have Parsis/Iranis seen such a flurry of activity. Posters and banners, meet-the-candidate gatherings, audiovisual presentations, newspaper and magazine advertisements, promotional flyers, free bus services, take-away dinner boxes, are all part of the community scene.
The trustees’ accountability to the larger mass of voters will increase measurably. The candidates that fail to be elected will act like opposition parties waiting in the wings for their turn to hold power. Up to now the power players operated behind the scene and aligned with a particular group of trustees. The trustees themselves were divided. Now the pressure groups are in the public eye.
When the community delivers its verdict in the first three weekends this October there will be clarity as to which way the community is inclined. As of now the front-runners appear to be the eight members of the AFP group, independent candidate Jimmy Mistry, the four-member WAPIZ panel, sitting trustee Dinshaw Mehta and social worker Arnavaz Mistry.
While in the initial round of electoral meetings the negative rhetoric has been limited, the approach is bound to be more charged as the voting days hover closer.
So far the AFP, Jimmy Mistry and former BPP trustee and electoral candidate Rustom Tirandaz appear to have formed an informal alliance not to attack each other and also extend cooperation.
Dinshaw Mehta in his meeting at Panthaky Baug on September 6, 2008 (see report in Parsiana, September 21 issue) asked voters to cast their ballots for him and the four WAPIZ candidates. But no such ringing endorsement of Mehta was made in turn by the WAPIZ panel either at the Gamadia Colony or Godrej Baug meets.
The new stars of the show, if they may be so called are AFP candidate Sohrab (Soli) Dastur, Muncherji Cama and Jimmy Mistry. Dastur, a new-comer on the community scene has the right touch of concern, humor and knowledge to woo voters. Mistry is a curiosity to the Parsi public. People have heard so many positive and negative stories about him that they are drawn to his meetings to decipher which is the real Mistry. Aware of the public’s misconception, Mistry and his supporters countered by speaking about his faults, real and/or imagined, thus anticipating and disarming his opponents.
Cama is both knowledgeable and outspoken with a sharp sense of humor.
WAPIZ’s Khojeste Mistree, Yazdi Desai and independent candidate Dinshaw Mehta, all struck out at their critics and foes in their campaign. Mistree focused on his favorite whipping boy, the Parsi Press, Desai attacked the AFP panel, while Mehta spoke about those he believed held up construction of new housing as well as allocation of newly constructed homes. Both WAPIZ and Mehta drew good crowds.
While Mistree’s oratorical skills are well honed, Mehta is a reluctant public speaker. But his forte is housing and he can speak long and knowledgeably on the subject.
Should the AFP panel and Mistry succeed, it would imply the community has opted for the traditional, middle-of-the road approach. While the AFP critics may term the panel liberal, there is no way one can say people like Nadir Modi (the AFP’s choice for chairmanship) or Noshir Dadrawala could be called liberal. They have both been in the forefront of the orthodox movement in the past and are now closer to the middle-of-the-road. Modi has observed in one of the AFP campaign meetings that trustees are bound by the trust deeds and their personal opinion is of no consequence.
Change therefore can only come from the courts of law or the community at large, but not from the BPP trustees alone.
There will be legal challenges. Noted jurist Fali Nariman stated in our August 21, 2008 issue that the constitution permits followers of a religion “to freely profess” their faith without discrimination of caste, creed, age or sex.
Even in the event the trustees were sympathetic to the cause of children of Parsi women married to non-Parsi men, other objectors could intervene. Former BPP trustee and legal tax expert Homi Ranina stated in our August 21, 2008 issue that he and his supporters would strongly oppose any move to challenge the status quo.
If WAPIZ and Mehta win, that means the community is still orthodox in outlook and that reform is not the flavor of the season. If some of the AFP candidates and their well-wishers win and some from the WAPIZ alliance it will be a mixed message.
No finality may emerge from the electoral judgment but the community will be awakened to the pressing issues it confronts and will expect some solutions.
The scene was more reminiscent of our country’s Parliament than a meeting to explain the modalities of the BPP elections to the candidates.
But after having exerted much energy and lung power, the meet at the Muncherji Khareghat Hall in Khareghat Colony on September 9, 2008 convened by the BPP trustees quietened down. Elections appear to tug at the heart-strings of those involved in the political process. And this being the first election under universal adult franchise (UAF) for the Bombay community and with 33 candidates in the fray for seven seats, one could understand the unease and confusion.
That common sense and decency prevailed at the end, with several constructive and practical suggestions made, demonstrates that the election should be fairly fought and conducted.
Most of the election meets that Parsiana has covered and others from which reports have circulated, show them to be orderly and civilized. Only in an Adult Franchise for Progress (AFP) meet in Dadar, a World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis (WAPIZ) supporter and her relatives were alleged to have created a scene, according to both the Jam-e-Jamshed Weekly of September 7, 2008 and an AFP organizer.
Still the elections appear more peaceful than the Federation of Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India meetings of 2004 onwards. As a matter of fact the disruption in the latter gatherings resulted in the all-India body not holding a meet for the past two years, with potential host anjumans apprehensive about the outcome. At the Federation meets the trouble was caused largely by people not elected to any anjumans and often without any connection to the place.
With elections under UAF, the new BPP trustees, whoever they be, will have a wider mandate to act. The community’s expectations have been raised. Not since 1980 have Parsis/Iranis seen such a flurry of activity. Posters and banners, meet-the-candidate gatherings, audiovisual presentations, newspaper and magazine advertisements, promotional flyers, free bus services, take-away dinner boxes, are all part of the community scene.
The trustees’ accountability to the larger mass of voters will increase measurably. The candidates that fail to be elected will act like opposition parties waiting in the wings for their turn to hold power. Up to now the power players operated behind the scene and aligned with a particular group of trustees. The trustees themselves were divided. Now the pressure groups are in the public eye.
When the community delivers its verdict in the first three weekends this October there will be clarity as to which way the community is inclined. As of now the front-runners appear to be the eight members of the AFP group, independent candidate Jimmy Mistry, the four-member WAPIZ panel, sitting trustee Dinshaw Mehta and social worker Arnavaz Mistry.
While in the initial round of electoral meetings the negative rhetoric has been limited, the approach is bound to be more charged as the voting days hover closer.
So far the AFP, Jimmy Mistry and former BPP trustee and electoral candidate Rustom Tirandaz appear to have formed an informal alliance not to attack each other and also extend cooperation.
Dinshaw Mehta in his meeting at Panthaky Baug on September 6, 2008 (see report in Parsiana, September 21 issue) asked voters to cast their ballots for him and the four WAPIZ candidates. But no such ringing endorsement of Mehta was made in turn by the WAPIZ panel either at the Gamadia Colony or Godrej Baug meets.
The new stars of the show, if they may be so called are AFP candidate Sohrab (Soli) Dastur, Muncherji Cama and Jimmy Mistry. Dastur, a new-comer on the community scene has the right touch of concern, humor and knowledge to woo voters. Mistry is a curiosity to the Parsi public. People have heard so many positive and negative stories about him that they are drawn to his meetings to decipher which is the real Mistry. Aware of the public’s misconception, Mistry and his supporters countered by speaking about his faults, real and/or imagined, thus anticipating and disarming his opponents.
Cama is both knowledgeable and outspoken with a sharp sense of humor.
WAPIZ’s Khojeste Mistree, Yazdi Desai and independent candidate Dinshaw Mehta, all struck out at their critics and foes in their campaign. Mistree focused on his favorite whipping boy, the Parsi Press, Desai attacked the AFP panel, while Mehta spoke about those he believed held up construction of new housing as well as allocation of newly constructed homes. Both WAPIZ and Mehta drew good crowds.
While Mistree’s oratorical skills are well honed, Mehta is a reluctant public speaker. But his forte is housing and he can speak long and knowledgeably on the subject.
Should the AFP panel and Mistry succeed, it would imply the community has opted for the traditional, middle-of-the road approach. While the AFP critics may term the panel liberal, there is no way one can say people like Nadir Modi (the AFP’s choice for chairmanship) or Noshir Dadrawala could be called liberal. They have both been in the forefront of the orthodox movement in the past and are now closer to the middle-of-the-road. Modi has observed in one of the AFP campaign meetings that trustees are bound by the trust deeds and their personal opinion is of no consequence.
Change therefore can only come from the courts of law or the community at large, but not from the BPP trustees alone.
There will be legal challenges. Noted jurist Fali Nariman stated in our August 21, 2008 issue that the constitution permits followers of a religion “to freely profess” their faith without discrimination of caste, creed, age or sex.
Even in the event the trustees were sympathetic to the cause of children of Parsi women married to non-Parsi men, other objectors could intervene. Former BPP trustee and legal tax expert Homi Ranina stated in our August 21, 2008 issue that he and his supporters would strongly oppose any move to challenge the status quo.
If WAPIZ and Mehta win, that means the community is still orthodox in outlook and that reform is not the flavor of the season. If some of the AFP candidates and their well-wishers win and some from the WAPIZ alliance it will be a mixed message.
No finality may emerge from the electoral judgment but the community will be awakened to the pressing issues it confronts and will expect some solutions.
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