Vote judiciously

At the time of writing only two main contenders have surfaced for the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) elections to be held in April 2009. One of these is a non-controversial principled ex-trustee with tremendous goodwill and professional expertise which can benefit the community apex body, and the other, the aspiring widow of the deceased trustee whose vacant seat she seeks to fill purely on the strength of sympathy votes.

There are two other flyweight nominations. Since the announcement list put up at the BPP office has not thrown up another weighty name whose entry could be a redeeming feature for our fast sinking BPP vessel caught in stormy seas, this poll should hopefully remain a straight fight between the above two on opposing sides, without nonentity candidates eating into the vote share.

Purely in the interest of the community and to uphold the sanctity/foundation of our august organization presently tottering on shaky ground, let the two fringe aspirants to this unoccupied seat who are likely to squander their deposits for brief publicity as also-rans, judiciously withdraw to make this a one-to-one fight on individual merit.

These are serious elections for a mammoth charity trust and what is needed is a trustee with the potential to confidently tackle the complicated tasks involved in running such an organization. Self-proclaimed social workers should join any of the numerous social service centers where they can fulfill their inclination to serve the poor of the community and leave the nitty-gritty of BPP management to qualified experts. The plight of the poor beneficiaries is in the balance. It is an issue of managing vast community assets, not a ghar no ghambar.

We need a strong personality who will challenge the malpractices within the board and clean the BPP’s Augean stables rather than misguidedly vote in someone who will be a mere rubber stamp attesting the alleged dubious designs of the bulldozing lobby that has entrenched itself. There is more to the duties of our BPP custodians than mere housing, but we don’t have a single professional from any requisite field on deck.

The Parsis of Bombay need to come out of hibernation to vote even if they are themselves never going to be beneficiaries like the gullible masses who cannot think logically for their best interests and their herd-mentality are vulnerably lured by false promises. If not for their comfortably blessed selves, at least in the interest of community welfare and to ensure that the wishes of the munificent settlors stays protected, let rationale outrun subjectivity and trounce the make-believe bogey of quom/religion in danger, spread by those on the back foot.

MICKIE SORABJEE

nashmick@hotmail.com