Editorial Viewpoint
A global perspective
Due to the community’s preoccupation with the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) trusteeship elections not much attention has been spared for activities and organizations that encompass the national and global scene.
The Federation of Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India has not met for over two-and-a-half years. And as yet there is no indication of a date being set to hold the overdue and much postponed annual general meeting. The BPP trustees will presumably be engrossed with their forthcoming Bombay High Court case of June 19, 2009 on the issue of community housing.
Normally Federation meetings are held in June and December. The earliest date now seems to be September when the fury of the monsoons will have been spent. With a firm orthodox majority on the board of the BPP and most likely on the Federation as well there is no reason for the chairman to delay the meet. The Punchayet and its supporters should be able to derive much political mileage out of the event.
But it would be worthwhile if instead of just using the occasion to shunt out the liberals, the all-India body also sets an agenda for the well-being of the community.
Unlike the BPP whose working is normally shrouded in secrecy (unless some dissenting trustee spills the beans), the Federation meetings are held in the glare of the community Press (so far). Any program, message or activity would become known globally. If all the anjumans present endorse the steps suggested, the program would have community-wide sanction. The anjumans could also decide on a united approach to issues at the Ninth World Zoroastrian Congress to be held in Dubai in December this year. Not that the World Congresses are meant to deal with local issues but if India were to let their thinking be known, others could decide what line to follow, pro or con. The Congresses, like the Federation, have no statutory powers. They have to lead by example and persuasion.
Unfortunately both the BPP chairman Dinshaw Mehta and the late BPP trustee Rustom Tirandaz view the BPP as a kind of apex world body instead of the local punchayet that it is. BPP trustee Khojeste Mistree had publicly dismissed the North American Zoroastrians a few years ago as “aaltoo faaltoos” (riff raff) and mocked the fact that their all-American body, the Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America (FEZANA), did not have a table and chair to its name (it now has an office).
BPP trustee Yazdi Desai whose universe in the past has been restricted to the Wadia fire temple land development in Lalbaug, speaks little but along with Mistree strongly opposed the formation of a world body which the duo labeled “cosmopolitan.”
BPP trustee Armaity Tirandaz spoke of her belief in racial purity (tokham kyani) and BPP trustee Jimmy Mistry said he would not want to sit next to “a Mrs Rao or a Mrs Kulkarni… in the agiary.” (presumably a Mrs Mistry, Mrs Mehta, Mrs Desai or Mrs Patel all being presumably purely Parsi names — though not unique to the community — would be acceptable!) But aware of global trends Mistry added that while inter-marrieds were a no-no in India, internationally “you have to accept” them (see “Spring-cleaning in the Punchayet,” Parsiana, December 21, 2008), thus setting the ground for double standards.
So besides BPP trustees Arnavaz Mistry and Noshir Dadrawala the other trustees’ perception of a world congress or a world body would be no different from that of a local anjuman.
True, Mistree and Desai are founder trustees of the World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis (WAPIZ) but here the globe is limited to parts of Gujarat (south of Ahmedabad) and Bombay. In a sense the majority of BPP trustees may indeed pooh-pooh the idea of forming a world body because WAPIZ already serves that narrow purpose. For the dissenters there is always the World Zoroastrian Organisation (WZO). (As the song says: “Two different worlds/we live in two different worlds.”)
What then can one hope for from participating in the Dubai Congress? Already there are rumblings that Dubai being an Arab sheikhdom is not the right venue for a Zoroastrian meet and that the emirate is not a democracy. But an earlier and successful Congress was held in Iran in 1996.
The threat to the Congress is not from without but from within. When Zoroastrians from all over the world meet there has to be some unanimity of thought, some minimum common program to which all parties broadly agree. The chances of that occurring are remote. Mehta, Mistree, Desai and others are insistent the world body be a Parsi/Irani Zoroastrian body which they say must exclude all associations that admit non-Parsis as members. This would not only exclude all the North American associations but in a sense India itself as Delhi, Jamshedpur, Lucknow and others permit non-Parsi spouses membership. The Mehta-Mistree world body would then constitute a little more than the people who voted them to office.
Taking refuge in the shell of their 209 Dadabhai Naoroji boardroom (and/or the chief executive’s office room) is not the same as exchanging views with an all-India or global Zoroastrian body. Even if they can have their way in the Federation, they will find the global Zoroastrians made of sterner stuff.
The Dubai Congress agenda has subjects such as “Zoroastrian vision 2010 and beyond,” “Unity through diversity,” “Global Fusion — East meets West,” “Coming together round table” and “Presentation by BPP (speakers to be announced shortly).”
Mehta, Mistree and company may pleasantly surprise us by espousing a more open society. Sticking to their parochial views on an international stage may project them as racists and bigots. What is the point of spending time, money and effort to become a BPP trustee if in the eyes of the global community you are viewed as little more than a tribal chieftain?
For the Congress and indeed even the Federation to succeed the BPP trustees not only have to change their tone and manner but also their mindset.
The Federation of Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India has not met for over two-and-a-half years. And as yet there is no indication of a date being set to hold the overdue and much postponed annual general meeting. The BPP trustees will presumably be engrossed with their forthcoming Bombay High Court case of June 19, 2009 on the issue of community housing.
Normally Federation meetings are held in June and December. The earliest date now seems to be September when the fury of the monsoons will have been spent. With a firm orthodox majority on the board of the BPP and most likely on the Federation as well there is no reason for the chairman to delay the meet. The Punchayet and its supporters should be able to derive much political mileage out of the event.
But it would be worthwhile if instead of just using the occasion to shunt out the liberals, the all-India body also sets an agenda for the well-being of the community.
Unlike the BPP whose working is normally shrouded in secrecy (unless some dissenting trustee spills the beans), the Federation meetings are held in the glare of the community Press (so far). Any program, message or activity would become known globally. If all the anjumans present endorse the steps suggested, the program would have community-wide sanction. The anjumans could also decide on a united approach to issues at the Ninth World Zoroastrian Congress to be held in Dubai in December this year. Not that the World Congresses are meant to deal with local issues but if India were to let their thinking be known, others could decide what line to follow, pro or con. The Congresses, like the Federation, have no statutory powers. They have to lead by example and persuasion.
Unfortunately both the BPP chairman Dinshaw Mehta and the late BPP trustee Rustom Tirandaz view the BPP as a kind of apex world body instead of the local punchayet that it is. BPP trustee Khojeste Mistree had publicly dismissed the North American Zoroastrians a few years ago as “aaltoo faaltoos” (riff raff) and mocked the fact that their all-American body, the Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America (FEZANA), did not have a table and chair to its name (it now has an office).
BPP trustee Yazdi Desai whose universe in the past has been restricted to the Wadia fire temple land development in Lalbaug, speaks little but along with Mistree strongly opposed the formation of a world body which the duo labeled “cosmopolitan.”
BPP trustee Armaity Tirandaz spoke of her belief in racial purity (tokham kyani) and BPP trustee Jimmy Mistry said he would not want to sit next to “a Mrs Rao or a Mrs Kulkarni… in the agiary.” (presumably a Mrs Mistry, Mrs Mehta, Mrs Desai or Mrs Patel all being presumably purely Parsi names — though not unique to the community — would be acceptable!) But aware of global trends Mistry added that while inter-marrieds were a no-no in India, internationally “you have to accept” them (see “Spring-cleaning in the Punchayet,” Parsiana, December 21, 2008), thus setting the ground for double standards.
So besides BPP trustees Arnavaz Mistry and Noshir Dadrawala the other trustees’ perception of a world congress or a world body would be no different from that of a local anjuman.
True, Mistree and Desai are founder trustees of the World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis (WAPIZ) but here the globe is limited to parts of Gujarat (south of Ahmedabad) and Bombay. In a sense the majority of BPP trustees may indeed pooh-pooh the idea of forming a world body because WAPIZ already serves that narrow purpose. For the dissenters there is always the World Zoroastrian Organisation (WZO). (As the song says: “Two different worlds/we live in two different worlds.”)
What then can one hope for from participating in the Dubai Congress? Already there are rumblings that Dubai being an Arab sheikhdom is not the right venue for a Zoroastrian meet and that the emirate is not a democracy. But an earlier and successful Congress was held in Iran in 1996.
The threat to the Congress is not from without but from within. When Zoroastrians from all over the world meet there has to be some unanimity of thought, some minimum common program to which all parties broadly agree. The chances of that occurring are remote. Mehta, Mistree, Desai and others are insistent the world body be a Parsi/Irani Zoroastrian body which they say must exclude all associations that admit non-Parsis as members. This would not only exclude all the North American associations but in a sense India itself as Delhi, Jamshedpur, Lucknow and others permit non-Parsi spouses membership. The Mehta-Mistree world body would then constitute a little more than the people who voted them to office.
Taking refuge in the shell of their 209 Dadabhai Naoroji boardroom (and/or the chief executive’s office room) is not the same as exchanging views with an all-India or global Zoroastrian body. Even if they can have their way in the Federation, they will find the global Zoroastrians made of sterner stuff.
The Dubai Congress agenda has subjects such as “Zoroastrian vision 2010 and beyond,” “Unity through diversity,” “Global Fusion — East meets West,” “Coming together round table” and “Presentation by BPP (speakers to be announced shortly).”
Mehta, Mistree and company may pleasantly surprise us by espousing a more open society. Sticking to their parochial views on an international stage may project them as racists and bigots. What is the point of spending time, money and effort to become a BPP trustee if in the eyes of the global community you are viewed as little more than a tribal chieftain?
For the Congress and indeed even the Federation to succeed the BPP trustees not only have to change their tone and manner but also their mindset.
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