Editorial Viewpoint
Quest for control
One would think that an organization that has negligible assets, no office, no staff would be of little interest to the community leadership. Yet the Federation of the Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India (FPZAI) draws power seeking individuals to it like a gahanbar attracts diners.
How else could one explain the desire of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) and World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis (WAPIZ) trustee Yazdi Desai wanting to attend a West Zone B zonal meet in Surat, specifically convened for the Gujarat anjumans? Though Desai is a joint honorary treasurer of the FPZAI, by convention he can only attend a zonal meet outside his anjuman’s zone at the behest of the zonal vice president. Thus when he sent a text message to the FPZAI joint honorary secretary Pervez Mehta of Bardoli stating he was going to attend the meet, Mehta reportedly informed him that as he did not belong to a West Zone B anjuman, the FPZAI vice president Darayas Master, who is also the president of the Surat Parsi Panchayat, would have to invite him. Desai is said to have responded that he was not seeking permission to attend, he was going to attend. (Desai appeared keener to attend the FPZAI meet than he does the BPP trustees’ meetings judging by his tardiness and absences. His absence was also conspicuous at the official BPP public function to felicitate lawyer Darius Khambatta on his appointment as advocate general of Maharashtra. Khambatta spoke of tolerance, respect and freedom of choice, enough to drive any self-respecting WAPIZ member to distraction.)
Eventually Desai remained in Bombay as the interminable mediation regarding the so-called “renegade” priests case before the Supreme Court necessitated an unscheduled meeting that Saturday, April 21. The mediation talks reportedly were held between Jamsheed Kanga, Homi Khusrokhan and the BPP trustees on April 20 in the presence of the court appointed mediator Sriram Panchu. The trustees then held an internal meeting the next day to discuss the never-ending proposals.
No doubt Desai wanted to bolster the WAPIZ presence at the FPZAI meet. With WAPIZ chairman and former Ahmedabad Parsi Panchayat president Areez Khambatta unseated from the Federation vice presidency and the usual WAPIZ allied proxy holders Tannaz Parakh (who represents Khergam) and Anahita Desai (who represented Badnera-Amravati at the last meet and prior to that Sholapur, amongst others) absent, the WAPIZ camp must have been worried lest any resolution restricting the right of proxies be passed. Of course such a resolution would not be binding on the FPZAI unless the general body endorsed it. But it would still be a moral setback.
WAPIZ has relied on proxies to gain control of the all-India body with the connivance of the FPZAI president and BPP chairman Dinshaw Mehta who had an electoral alliance with WAPIZ in the 2008 BPP trusteeship elections. Mehta’s subsequent opposition to WAPIZ’s shenanigans to control the national body resulted in Khambatta stepping down from the vice presidency, albeit only for a year.
Interestingly enough, Mehta does not even consider FPZAI as the country’s apex body. He claims that distinction belongs to the BPP which he believes is also the community’s world body! Just as no one can deny that BPP trusteeship elections are keenly and often bitterly contested, the FPZAI office bearers’ posts, in recent times, have been contested with equal vigor and ferocity.
Desai’s proposed attendance at the Surat meet was probably a damage control exercise ensuring that WAPIZ’s hold was not further weakened.
But Desai need not have worried. The WAPIZ case was admirably defended by their loyalist anjumans, namely Valsad, Davier and Nargol. Other erstwhile supporters remained silent or did not take sides. Finally it was decided the representatives would consult their respective board of trustees before deciding on whether to support or oppose proxy representation.
But what further raised the WAPIZ hackles was the presence of Dastur Khurshed Dastoor, High Priest of Udvada and president of the Udvada Athornan Anjuman, at the zonal meet as the chief guest. The Anjuman has not opted to become a member though Udvada has a permanent seat on the FPZAI’s executive council. There was much controversy surrounding who represents Udvada at the last all-India body’s meet held in Bombay on February 11 and 12, 2012.
By convention, the vice president has the right to invite to a zonal meet whoever he thinks fit. Even Parsiana, which is not invited to the zonal meets hosted by WAPIZ or WAPIZ sympathetic vice presidents was invited to the Surat meet. While BPP-WAPIZ trustees Khojeste Mistree and Desai posed no issue about the Press being present, they raised a ruckus about Dastoor attending the meet. Why should the head of an anjuman attending a FPZAI meet cause offense to WAPIZ when WAPIZ has helped individuals become vice presidents whose anjumans are not FPZAI members and/or hold no anjuman office? Or more so when people who have no connection with an anjuman, come to the FPZAI meets and raise issues ad nauseam that are of no relevance to the concerned anjuman.
Of course Dastoor is anathema to WAPIZ and has served as a counter-weight in their endeavors to either woo or control the Gujarat anjumans. Anjumans that support WAPIZ are often recipients of their monetary largesse (Jam-e-Jamshed Weekly of April 29, 2012 mentions “Anahita and Yazdi Desai have been donating Rs 25,000 every year to the Davier Anjuman since 2004,” the year Desai, Mistree and Khambatta joined forces). According to the same Jame report Khambatta has given Rs 24,00,000 toward the Valsad Parsi Anjuman (VPA) litigation against Goolrookh Gupta who challenged the Anjuman’s ban on Parsi women married to non-Parsis from entering the fire temple and attending the funeral prayers. The matter is now slated to go to the Supreme Court.
Gupta’s lawyer Percy Kavina fought her case pro bono before the Gujarat High Court and noted advocate Harish Salve has reportedly agreed to do the same before the Supreme Court. Gupta will have to rely on well-wishers to raise money for the incidental expenses. VPA managing trustee Sam Chothia told Parsiana at the Surat meet that Khambatta would also finance the Anjuman’s case before the Supreme Court.
But the bias against Parsi women also manifested itself at the West Zone B gathering where all the representatives of the anjumans were men. The only female in the cavernous room was the Parsiana managing editor Parinaz Gandhi. (Incidentally it was in the same hall in 1977 that the Parsi Press was invited for the first time to cover a FPZAI meet at the behest of the then SPP president Maneck Gheyara. A few years prior to that the Parsiana associate editor Sanober Marker was asked to leave a FPZAI meet in Delhi.) Would the exclusion of women representative at the zonal meet explain the Valsad Anjuman’s temerity to bar women who have married outside the faith from entering the local fire temple and doongerwadi? WAPIZ and their allied anjumans certainly will not take up the women’s cause, but there is no reason for sensible anjumans not to set right this blatant wrong.
How else could one explain the desire of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) and World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis (WAPIZ) trustee Yazdi Desai wanting to attend a West Zone B zonal meet in Surat, specifically convened for the Gujarat anjumans? Though Desai is a joint honorary treasurer of the FPZAI, by convention he can only attend a zonal meet outside his anjuman’s zone at the behest of the zonal vice president. Thus when he sent a text message to the FPZAI joint honorary secretary Pervez Mehta of Bardoli stating he was going to attend the meet, Mehta reportedly informed him that as he did not belong to a West Zone B anjuman, the FPZAI vice president Darayas Master, who is also the president of the Surat Parsi Panchayat, would have to invite him. Desai is said to have responded that he was not seeking permission to attend, he was going to attend. (Desai appeared keener to attend the FPZAI meet than he does the BPP trustees’ meetings judging by his tardiness and absences. His absence was also conspicuous at the official BPP public function to felicitate lawyer Darius Khambatta on his appointment as advocate general of Maharashtra. Khambatta spoke of tolerance, respect and freedom of choice, enough to drive any self-respecting WAPIZ member to distraction.)
Eventually Desai remained in Bombay as the interminable mediation regarding the so-called “renegade” priests case before the Supreme Court necessitated an unscheduled meeting that Saturday, April 21. The mediation talks reportedly were held between Jamsheed Kanga, Homi Khusrokhan and the BPP trustees on April 20 in the presence of the court appointed mediator Sriram Panchu. The trustees then held an internal meeting the next day to discuss the never-ending proposals.
No doubt Desai wanted to bolster the WAPIZ presence at the FPZAI meet. With WAPIZ chairman and former Ahmedabad Parsi Panchayat president Areez Khambatta unseated from the Federation vice presidency and the usual WAPIZ allied proxy holders Tannaz Parakh (who represents Khergam) and Anahita Desai (who represented Badnera-Amravati at the last meet and prior to that Sholapur, amongst others) absent, the WAPIZ camp must have been worried lest any resolution restricting the right of proxies be passed. Of course such a resolution would not be binding on the FPZAI unless the general body endorsed it. But it would still be a moral setback.
WAPIZ has relied on proxies to gain control of the all-India body with the connivance of the FPZAI president and BPP chairman Dinshaw Mehta who had an electoral alliance with WAPIZ in the 2008 BPP trusteeship elections. Mehta’s subsequent opposition to WAPIZ’s shenanigans to control the national body resulted in Khambatta stepping down from the vice presidency, albeit only for a year.
Interestingly enough, Mehta does not even consider FPZAI as the country’s apex body. He claims that distinction belongs to the BPP which he believes is also the community’s world body! Just as no one can deny that BPP trusteeship elections are keenly and often bitterly contested, the FPZAI office bearers’ posts, in recent times, have been contested with equal vigor and ferocity.
Desai’s proposed attendance at the Surat meet was probably a damage control exercise ensuring that WAPIZ’s hold was not further weakened.
But Desai need not have worried. The WAPIZ case was admirably defended by their loyalist anjumans, namely Valsad, Davier and Nargol. Other erstwhile supporters remained silent or did not take sides. Finally it was decided the representatives would consult their respective board of trustees before deciding on whether to support or oppose proxy representation.
But what further raised the WAPIZ hackles was the presence of Dastur Khurshed Dastoor, High Priest of Udvada and president of the Udvada Athornan Anjuman, at the zonal meet as the chief guest. The Anjuman has not opted to become a member though Udvada has a permanent seat on the FPZAI’s executive council. There was much controversy surrounding who represents Udvada at the last all-India body’s meet held in Bombay on February 11 and 12, 2012.
By convention, the vice president has the right to invite to a zonal meet whoever he thinks fit. Even Parsiana, which is not invited to the zonal meets hosted by WAPIZ or WAPIZ sympathetic vice presidents was invited to the Surat meet. While BPP-WAPIZ trustees Khojeste Mistree and Desai posed no issue about the Press being present, they raised a ruckus about Dastoor attending the meet. Why should the head of an anjuman attending a FPZAI meet cause offense to WAPIZ when WAPIZ has helped individuals become vice presidents whose anjumans are not FPZAI members and/or hold no anjuman office? Or more so when people who have no connection with an anjuman, come to the FPZAI meets and raise issues ad nauseam that are of no relevance to the concerned anjuman.
Of course Dastoor is anathema to WAPIZ and has served as a counter-weight in their endeavors to either woo or control the Gujarat anjumans. Anjumans that support WAPIZ are often recipients of their monetary largesse (Jam-e-Jamshed Weekly of April 29, 2012 mentions “Anahita and Yazdi Desai have been donating Rs 25,000 every year to the Davier Anjuman since 2004,” the year Desai, Mistree and Khambatta joined forces). According to the same Jame report Khambatta has given Rs 24,00,000 toward the Valsad Parsi Anjuman (VPA) litigation against Goolrookh Gupta who challenged the Anjuman’s ban on Parsi women married to non-Parsis from entering the fire temple and attending the funeral prayers. The matter is now slated to go to the Supreme Court.
Gupta’s lawyer Percy Kavina fought her case pro bono before the Gujarat High Court and noted advocate Harish Salve has reportedly agreed to do the same before the Supreme Court. Gupta will have to rely on well-wishers to raise money for the incidental expenses. VPA managing trustee Sam Chothia told Parsiana at the Surat meet that Khambatta would also finance the Anjuman’s case before the Supreme Court.
But the bias against Parsi women also manifested itself at the West Zone B gathering where all the representatives of the anjumans were men. The only female in the cavernous room was the Parsiana managing editor Parinaz Gandhi. (Incidentally it was in the same hall in 1977 that the Parsi Press was invited for the first time to cover a FPZAI meet at the behest of the then SPP president Maneck Gheyara. A few years prior to that the Parsiana associate editor Sanober Marker was asked to leave a FPZAI meet in Delhi.) Would the exclusion of women representative at the zonal meet explain the Valsad Anjuman’s temerity to bar women who have married outside the faith from entering the local fire temple and doongerwadi? WAPIZ and their allied anjumans certainly will not take up the women’s cause, but there is no reason for sensible anjumans not to set right this blatant wrong.
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