The BPP cannot afford another Himalayan blunder

1968. Members of the Sau-nu-Mandal (group of 100), feeling very important, march to the Bombay Parsi Panchayet (BPP) office on a Saturday to elect a trustee. Before dusk, the results are announced and the defeated candidate sheepishly walks up to the victor to congratulate him. There were hardly any upsets (barring one where the front runner was attacked in an anonymous letter sent by post on Friday, and who narrowly lost). The Parsi Press (Jam-e-Jamshed, Kaiser-e-Hind and The Bombay Samachar) sounded insipid (though we remember one gloatingly acerbic headline in The Bombay Samachar about a defeated candidate — "chor né potlé dhoor ni dhoor (a thief never succeeds).” No public meetings and no manifestos. The Athornan Mandal was a potent political force and issued an advisory to its members how to vote. Boman Bomanbehram celebrated his victory by inviting his supporters to a sit down dinner at the Ripon Club (it was not considered downmarket) where husbands were not allowed to sit alongside their wives, to spur new acquaintances, which seldom led to adultery.

Fast forward 40 years to 2008. Elections by adult franchise, after a fiercely fought court battle, on four consecutive weekends. The media went berserk. Laws of libel were robustly breached. Gahanbars galore, after good and bad speeches. A faux Jam-e-Jamshed printed, supporting the Mehta-WAPIZ (World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis) combine against the Adult Franchise for Progress (AFP) "dream panel” including Housing Development Finance Corporation’s Keki Mistry, Tata Cancer Memorial director, late Dr Ketayun Dinshaw, eminent tax counsel Soli Dastur and others. Tempers flared, as harassed police inspectors had to deal with crowds of agitated Parsis. Serpentine queues for voting, occasionally interrupted by physical skirmishes. High drama in the counting hall over several days. In a stunning upset, the dream panel suffered a nightmarish defeat. In this publication, your columnist (in his capacity as the AFP campaign co-ordinator along with Kersi Randeria) said, in a post poll interview, that the community had been offered caviar but had preferred masoor-paav (lentils and bread).
During the seven years which followed, the masoor-paav turned terribly sour, bitter and stank to the high heavens. After jettisoning the sole survivor of the dream panel, Noshir Dadrawala, the Mehta-WAPIZ combine went into a self-destruct mode of first information reports, Economic Offences Wing of the Bombay police, criminal complaints, cash mysteriously appearing in BPP cupboards, allegations of cash for tenancy transfers with the principal witness succumbing to a coma, in the ICU (intensive care unit). The Charity Commissioner restrained the trustees from deciding any property or tenancy issue. Tax returns and accounts remained unfiled. Mainstream media lapped up the murky and sordid. Clips of colorful abuse and chairs flying in the boardroom went viral over the internet. Absolute low point. Sodom and Gomorrah.
Some critics blame the malaise on adult franchise. Conveniently forgetting that adult franchise was very much in existence for decades to elect the electoral college, which, from the Sau-nu-Mandal, had itself swelled to nearly 3,000 members, much more vulnerable to manipulation, coterie politics and backroom deals.
Seven years later, does your columnist, as one of the AFP convenors, feel vindicated? Not really. Had the dream panel been partially elected, it would have been a disaster. Like Dadrawala, most would have resigned in exasperation and disgust. However unwholesome this period of seven years has been, it has paved the way for permanent change. Reading the writing on the wall, only one sitting trustee (Yazdi Desai) is recontesting. At one stage, it appeared that the happenings in the BPP would scare off the good from contesting and the BPP would continue to meander with mediocrity. However, the sahebs of Demavand Koh presiding over the community’s destiny inspired Randeria, Maneck Davar and Dadrawala, armed forces veterans and many more to contest. This has radically changed the dynamics. Along with real estate developer and chartered accountant, Zarir Bhathena and young finance professional Viraf Mehta, these few candidates have emerged as the front runners.
The four gentlemen from the armed services have limited experience of community affairs. They may lack the expertise to grapple with complex legal, accounting and tax issues in which the BPP is mired. At first blush, men in uniform — brave, honest and disciplined — may seem like the right antidote to the gutter politics and chaos of the last seven years; however, while one of them becoming a trustee is healthy for the institution, four of them, as a panel, is certainly not what the BPP currently requires.
Desai ought to have let his wife Anahita, a social worker of great ability, contest. Whatever may have been the circumstances, Desai should have accepted moral responsibility and opted out. His WAPIZ support may prove short of a seat. At best, he is a dark horse. Continuing with the horse racing parlance, all other 15 candidates are "also rans,” barring chartered accountant Xerxes Dastur who may ultimately prevail in the years to come, though unlikely at present.
The voters are angry and disgusted. They also suffer from a huge guilt complex at having rejected the dream panel in 2008. Himalayan blunders are not made in succession. At stake is the billion dollars’ worth Doongerwadi land, priceless other properties and resources, and the moral leadership of a beleaguered community. You cannot entrust all this to yet another circus. On October 18, 2015, a gentle breeze will clear the Augean stables of this august institution. It will, God-like, destroy the Sodom and Gomorrah of the last seven years.