Tata for President

Who is a minority community? I thought it is a section of population that is less in number than the majority. But in India minority only means a sizable vote bank.

What about the Parsis? Though minuscule in numbers, we have done and continue to do much for our country. We have and are giving back far more for India, our karmabhoomi. We have stalwarts and pioneers in every field imaginable — education, the armed forces, banking, industry, law, medicine, etc without expectation of selfish favors.

And though this quality of ours is appreciated it has never been translated into honoring our community electing a Parsi President. Wouldn’t the late J. R. D. Tata or Field Marshal Sam Manek­shaw have qualified for the post? Why have political groups side-tracked our achievers? In recent times Ratan Tata would be the most suitable candidate for this job and every Parsi would be proud of it. But it only went to the level of a silly online petition, with zero results!

This is why I say we should start working now to ensure that we have a Parsi President in the next election five years from now. How do we go about it? A core group of prominent, powerful Parsis should tackle the government, and bombard any opposition by projecting a Parsi for the post. This has to be done first by identifying the individual, which is very easy, as Ratan Tata would fit the bill to occupy Rashtrapati Bhavan.

RODA D. HAKIM

Baroda

vadhakim@yahoo.com