A high price to pay

A close and dear friend recently forwarded to me excerpts of an interview given by the late jurist Nani Palkhivala to Archana Masih of rediff.com. It was perhaps the last interview given by India’s best known constitutional lawyer.

When Palkhivala analyzed the Union Budget, even the largest auditorium in the city did not suffice. It required a cricket stadium to accommodate all his eager and enthusiastic listeners.

Palkhivala had been an eyewitness to the birth of India’s nationhood and he closely observed the nation’s post-independence destiny for over half a century.

In the interview with rediff.com, the then 76-year-old jurist spoke about his disenchantment with India, its leaders and its people. His views on universal adult franchise would probably ring a familiar bell for the Parsis, despite the community’s claim to being "enlightened!”

According to Palkhivala, "You cannot have a democracy with adult franchise when half the people are illiterate. I think their percentage must be more than 50 percent. Illiterate is a person who cannot read or write. What the Government of India does is to ask you to write your name and if you write your name, they regard you as literate. But you may not be literate because you are able to write your name! This is no criterion. This is the way the government has fooled the people. You may say, why are such people elected? They are elected on the basis of caste and religion. If I am a Muslim I’ll vote only for a Muslim, if I’m Hindu I’ll vote only for a Hindu. This is no criterion at all! I’m a third rate man but you give me the vote because I’m a Muslim or a Hindu. You cannot run a country on those lines.”

Do you see a reflection of this in our "enlightened community?” I certainly do! Since the October 2008 elections to the board of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) have we not as a community elected men and women on the basis of, if I am orthodox I will vote only for an orthodox or if I am a reformist I will vote only for a reformist? For heaven’s sake, what has religion got to do with a public charitable trust?

Keeping this narrow parochial outlook in mind the interviewer had asked Palkhivala which way he thought our country is headed. Palkhivala replied, "I think we are headed for a disastrous future. Not because our people are not intelligent. There is enough intelligence but there’s no wisdom or buddhi as the ancient Indians called it (sounds familiar, doesn’t it!)…We are misleading the people. It is not that the nation is left to fare for itself. It is positively misled. And it is positively misled by those who come to power on adult franchise.”

Palkhivala then gave an example. "There was a man called Hari Nanda. He founded Escorts. People told him to stand for Parliament, including a fool like me. He said, ‘Okay, I will stand for Parliament,’ and (he) was defeated. Not only defeated but (he) also forfeited his deposit. There was no comparison between him and the man who got elected. No comparison at all. This man (Nanda) had done so much for the people. He had given hospitals, schools, colleges, dispensaries and had a great public spirit. I had met him myself and I know how sincere, devoted and patriotic he was. But he got defeated.”

Does this not ring a bell again? In recent history, have we not as an "enlightened community” rejected men and women of the highest integrity, expertise and track record of service? Imagine what a man like Keki Mistry of HDFC (Housing Developing and Finance Corporation) could have done on the housing front. What a loss it has been for the community to miss out on the legal acumen of a man like Nadir Modi. Think about the huge administrative skills and medical experience a lady like Dr Ketayun Dinshaw could have brought to the BPP and the community.

Palkhivala lamented in the case of Nanda: "The man who was elected was a total nonentity. This is India. This is what adult franchise does. This is why I say that no country has ever paid so high a price for adult franchise as India. No democracy has ever paid so high a price for adult franchise as India.”

Echoing Palkhivala’s sentiments, may I dare say that no community has ever paid so highly a price for adult franchise as the Parsis?

NOSHIR H. DADRAWALA

noshir101@hotmail.com