Editorial Viewpoint
Preserving a privilege
Muncherji Khareghat would have been bemused watching the long serpentine queues at the Hughes Road Colony named after him.
In 1911 he was among the first batch of three trustees elected to the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) after the historic Bombay High Court judgment requiring trustees to be once again elected instead of nominated.
On the first day of voting, October 4, 2008 his marble statue was smack in the middle of the electoral process. His bust, near the entrance to the 37 building or so Colony founded in 1912, faced the galaxy of posters, voters, volunteers, cars and trays of food and tea making the rounds.
People braved the sultry heat and evening showers standing for two to three hours to cast their ballot. Young and old, men and women, the disabled, the unwell, all arrived to make their presence felt. Ninety-eight years after the Bombay High Court appointed a commission under prothonotary Limji Naoroji Banaji to devise an electoral scheme, all Parsi/Irani Zoroastrians over the age of 18 finally had a direct say in the running of their Punchayet.
Prior to the three weekends of voting, community households were flooded with a plethora of literature from the candidates. Color pamphlets on glossy paper were distributed at the candidates’ meets and dropped off at doorsteps.
When candidate Rustom Tirandaz, a former BPP trustee, stated he could not afford to spend Rs 1,50,000 to print and dispatch his manifesto to each household one begins to understand the scale of economics involved in such elections.
There was a time in national, state and local elections when posters were plastered on any blank wall, banners were strewn across the city and campaign literature was dropped at voters’ homes. But with the Election Commission forcing candidates to adhere to a specific budget today a voter is lucky just to receive a card indicating his name, voter registration number and center of polling. Thus the BPP elections were a reminder of the halcyon days of electioneering.
With no limit on spending (aside from what a candidate could afford or was willing to spend) the community was treated (literally) to a plethora of public meetings followed by a precious box of snacks. With meetings going on well past 10 p.m. that packaged meal was a much needed convenience to those attending the three hour or more sessions.
At a rough estimate the total amount spent on all the electioneering (not counting the actual cost of holding the elections over six days) would be between one to two crores. When you consider flats in Parsi colonies are sold/retenanted for around that much amount, the figure is not unusually high.
Most of that money was spent by the four major players, the Adult Franchise for Progress (AFP), the World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis (WAPIZ), Jimmy Mistry and Dinshaw Mehta. Of the four, Mistry would emerge the biggest spender though WAPIZ and Mehta if taken together would probably be more.
The WAPIZ-Mehta alliance was a natural coming together of like-minded individuals as both espouse the orthodox/traditionalist line of thought. Theirs has been an on and off relationship first manifested at the Federation of Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India meeting around 2005 where Mehta lent his support to the WAPIZ representatives at the all India meet. A chance remark at a Federation executive council meeting in Thana by Mehta alluding to WAPIZ’s behavior as the “tyranny of the minority” indicated the first public rift in the relationship.
Subsequently they fell out over the hoardings at Doongerwadi with Mehta justifying the double billboards and WAPIZ opposing on the grounds the city’s greenery was being endangered.
Their relations were further strained when Mehta filed an affidavit in court supporting his co-trustees in the resignation drama, a step WAPIZ alleged weakened their legal case against the four trustees who resigned and subsequently withdrew their resignations.
According to sources, Mehta was keen initially to have an electoral pact with WAPIZ but the latter reportedly demurred. As the campaigning proceeded both sides realized there was no harm in joining forces as WAPIZ was only contesting four seats and Mehta one, while seven seats were on offer.
In terms of flamboyance and innovation Mistry was the star of the show. More than any other candidate the youthful 37-year-old Dadar resident and interior designer captured the public’s attention. He was adulated and abhorred, praised and chastised. As one of his supporters aptly stated at a meeting, in the public’s perception there were three Jimmy Mistrys, the good, the bad and the ugly. But whatever the outcome of the poll, the millionaire businessman has in a remarkably short time made his name a household word.
The AFP in contrast has been a mix of several influential individuals. Aside form the seven eminent Zoroastrians in their panel, AFP founders Berjis Desai, Kersi Randeria, Percy Patel and Zeree Jehangirji were as much in the limelight with Desai regularly maligned by both WAPIZ and Mehta.
Jehangirji unknowingly found himself at the center of a controversy when WAPIZ founder trustee Khojeste Mistree’s daughter Tashan alleged he had pulled her off a chair she was standing on to shoot a video. Jehangirji alleged he had only cautioned her to alight as there was a danger of the milling crowd jostling the chair and possibly causing her to fall. (CCTV footage of the event appeared to indicate Mistree got off the chair of her own volition.)
But in a highly charged emotional setting such as a polling station on opening day even the smallest events can lead to a conflagration. The shortened tempers could also be due to the long hours voters had to stand in the queues on the first day and the oppressive heat. The next three polling days saw smooth functioning of the electoral process with people having to wait less than half an hour or in some cases no time at all.
The much beleaguered and maligned BPP staff, many of whom have been working almost a month without rest (elections being held on weekends) handled the crowds civilly and well. The 81-year-old president of the election Rustom Hormuzdiyar was on his feet from morning to night on all the weekends overseeing the balloting along with scrutinizers Ratan Lalkaka and Rustom Jasoomoney. Many of the candidates’ youthful volunteers also endured the long arduous hours greeting voters with smiling faces.
The final credit must go to the outgoing BPP board of trustees who moved the courts for introducing adult franchise and permitted the community a fair and equitable chance to vote freely. A privilege Bombay Zoroastrians had over 150 years ago but let languish. A colossal mistake they will not repeat.
In 1911 he was among the first batch of three trustees elected to the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) after the historic Bombay High Court judgment requiring trustees to be once again elected instead of nominated.
On the first day of voting, October 4, 2008 his marble statue was smack in the middle of the electoral process. His bust, near the entrance to the 37 building or so Colony founded in 1912, faced the galaxy of posters, voters, volunteers, cars and trays of food and tea making the rounds.
People braved the sultry heat and evening showers standing for two to three hours to cast their ballot. Young and old, men and women, the disabled, the unwell, all arrived to make their presence felt. Ninety-eight years after the Bombay High Court appointed a commission under prothonotary Limji Naoroji Banaji to devise an electoral scheme, all Parsi/Irani Zoroastrians over the age of 18 finally had a direct say in the running of their Punchayet.
Prior to the three weekends of voting, community households were flooded with a plethora of literature from the candidates. Color pamphlets on glossy paper were distributed at the candidates’ meets and dropped off at doorsteps.
When candidate Rustom Tirandaz, a former BPP trustee, stated he could not afford to spend Rs 1,50,000 to print and dispatch his manifesto to each household one begins to understand the scale of economics involved in such elections.
There was a time in national, state and local elections when posters were plastered on any blank wall, banners were strewn across the city and campaign literature was dropped at voters’ homes. But with the Election Commission forcing candidates to adhere to a specific budget today a voter is lucky just to receive a card indicating his name, voter registration number and center of polling. Thus the BPP elections were a reminder of the halcyon days of electioneering.
With no limit on spending (aside from what a candidate could afford or was willing to spend) the community was treated (literally) to a plethora of public meetings followed by a precious box of snacks. With meetings going on well past 10 p.m. that packaged meal was a much needed convenience to those attending the three hour or more sessions.
At a rough estimate the total amount spent on all the electioneering (not counting the actual cost of holding the elections over six days) would be between one to two crores. When you consider flats in Parsi colonies are sold/retenanted for around that much amount, the figure is not unusually high.
Most of that money was spent by the four major players, the Adult Franchise for Progress (AFP), the World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis (WAPIZ), Jimmy Mistry and Dinshaw Mehta. Of the four, Mistry would emerge the biggest spender though WAPIZ and Mehta if taken together would probably be more.
The WAPIZ-Mehta alliance was a natural coming together of like-minded individuals as both espouse the orthodox/traditionalist line of thought. Theirs has been an on and off relationship first manifested at the Federation of Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India meeting around 2005 where Mehta lent his support to the WAPIZ representatives at the all India meet. A chance remark at a Federation executive council meeting in Thana by Mehta alluding to WAPIZ’s behavior as the “tyranny of the minority” indicated the first public rift in the relationship.
Subsequently they fell out over the hoardings at Doongerwadi with Mehta justifying the double billboards and WAPIZ opposing on the grounds the city’s greenery was being endangered.
Their relations were further strained when Mehta filed an affidavit in court supporting his co-trustees in the resignation drama, a step WAPIZ alleged weakened their legal case against the four trustees who resigned and subsequently withdrew their resignations.
According to sources, Mehta was keen initially to have an electoral pact with WAPIZ but the latter reportedly demurred. As the campaigning proceeded both sides realized there was no harm in joining forces as WAPIZ was only contesting four seats and Mehta one, while seven seats were on offer.
In terms of flamboyance and innovation Mistry was the star of the show. More than any other candidate the youthful 37-year-old Dadar resident and interior designer captured the public’s attention. He was adulated and abhorred, praised and chastised. As one of his supporters aptly stated at a meeting, in the public’s perception there were three Jimmy Mistrys, the good, the bad and the ugly. But whatever the outcome of the poll, the millionaire businessman has in a remarkably short time made his name a household word.
The AFP in contrast has been a mix of several influential individuals. Aside form the seven eminent Zoroastrians in their panel, AFP founders Berjis Desai, Kersi Randeria, Percy Patel and Zeree Jehangirji were as much in the limelight with Desai regularly maligned by both WAPIZ and Mehta.
Jehangirji unknowingly found himself at the center of a controversy when WAPIZ founder trustee Khojeste Mistree’s daughter Tashan alleged he had pulled her off a chair she was standing on to shoot a video. Jehangirji alleged he had only cautioned her to alight as there was a danger of the milling crowd jostling the chair and possibly causing her to fall. (CCTV footage of the event appeared to indicate Mistree got off the chair of her own volition.)
But in a highly charged emotional setting such as a polling station on opening day even the smallest events can lead to a conflagration. The shortened tempers could also be due to the long hours voters had to stand in the queues on the first day and the oppressive heat. The next three polling days saw smooth functioning of the electoral process with people having to wait less than half an hour or in some cases no time at all.
The much beleaguered and maligned BPP staff, many of whom have been working almost a month without rest (elections being held on weekends) handled the crowds civilly and well. The 81-year-old president of the election Rustom Hormuzdiyar was on his feet from morning to night on all the weekends overseeing the balloting along with scrutinizers Ratan Lalkaka and Rustom Jasoomoney. Many of the candidates’ youthful volunteers also endured the long arduous hours greeting voters with smiling faces.
The final credit must go to the outgoing BPP board of trustees who moved the courts for introducing adult franchise and permitted the community a fair and equitable chance to vote freely. A privilege Bombay Zoroastrians had over 150 years ago but let languish. A colossal mistake they will not repeat.
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From the archive