“I am nobody’s remote control”

Regardless of the social media attacking him as "old wine in a new bottle,” Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) trusteeship candidate Viraf Mehta was forthright, "I am very proud to be (BPP chairman) Dinshaw Mehta’s son. My father has worked as trustee for 21 years… shown his dedication, hard work, sacrifice for the community… I am not ashamed of my bloodline or lineage… My father has never sought to control any of his three sons. He has taught us independence. I am nobody’s remote control… Now let us leave Dinshaw Mehta’s son on that chair…”

Viraf Mehta (left); attendees at Rustom Baug campaign meet

At the election campaign meeting at Godrej Baug on the evening of Sunday, September 27, 2015, Viraf made a strong plea: "Look at me as an independent.” Despite the Ganpati immersion traffic regulations there were over 200 Colony residents and others who had come to give the "hardworking and sincere worker who is ready to serve society a chance.” With his expertise lying in asset and finance management, being vice president of CLSA Limited, Asia’s leading and longest running independent investment and brokerage group, Viraf was keen to see the Punchayet administered as a corporate entity with trustees serving as a board of directors, managers heading different portfolios like housing, education, finance and a strong chief executive officer functioning independently.
"Does anybody know how much is spent annually to run the Punchayet?” asked Viraf and since the guesses were rather conservative he revealed the figure as Rs 25 crores. The Punchayet has to break its fixed deposits to pay the salaries of its staff and yet last week it sanctioned a 25% increase in salaries for its Parsi staff at the Punchayet office knowing well that the labor union at Doongerwadi that had been pressing for revision of wages was granted only an interim revision of 15% for its class IV workers. This decision on the eve of elections tantamounted to "a sitting trustee buying votes in gross contravention of the code of conduct,” said Viraf. From 1994 to 2015, the corpus of the Punchayet may have risen from Rs 15 crores to Rs 250 crores (including security deposits for flats), but with donations having dried up, the BPP is "dying a slow death, gradually becoming bankrupt.”

(L-R): Neville Daroga, Dinshaw Mehta, Mickey Mehta and Viraf Mehta at Godrej Baug

He put the blame for this squarely on the decisions of the "four majority trustees” who have brought the working of the Punchayet to a standstill with their baseless complaints against the chairman to the charity commissioner who ruled that all property transactions be stopped. Looking at their report card they have "failed as trustees. But who’s suffered? … You all have suffered… Can you imagine the frustration of the chairman?” asked Viraf. "The community needs to wake up,” he advocated. The high litigation charges of Rs 3.5 crores with another crore of unsettled legal fees he also attributed to the stubbornness of the trustees in persisting with persecuting the two renegade priests who performed ceremonies for those opting for cremation. "Last year the BPP suffered a loss of seven crore rupees. They have not filed their tax returns for the last two years. Why do you not know all this? It’s time we all took an interest…”
The 38-year-old candidate announced that he had "passion, drive, but I can’t do it alone.” Hoping that the new BPP board will have "like-minded people,” he emphasized, "we do not need yes men. Intellectual argument is healthy… At ZYNG (Zoroastrian Youth for the Next Generation, where he is a founder member) we settle our differences in an amicable way. Having raised the enrolment of ZYNG from 40 to 4,000 in the last six years, brought 100 couples together and invested "time, money and energy in its social platform,” he felt the accusations that "ZYNG was created as a political platform for me” and only indulges in social activities were not fair, knowing that they also undertake social welfare and religious activities. Instead of spreading rumors about him and his work why don’t people take the trouble to call him? "I will answer at any bloody time of the day… I’m bloody hell proud of being Dinshaw Mehta’s son,” he asserted before apologizing for his language which he said was due to his becoming emotional.
He further recommended that the responsibility of running the 18 colonies of the Punchayet be divided amongst the board members such that there is an angel trustee in charge of three colonies at a time by rotation with the bigger decisions being collectively taken by the entire board. Viraf believed "a five-year trusteeship tenure with the right to recall” would make the trustees function more responsibly. He reported how it took five weeks for the trustees to sanction tube lights at Panthaky Baug even though the Baug was bearing the costs. Likewise the issue of a Cell Tower at Godrej Baug — which saw a heated exchange among some residents and office bearers of the Godrej Baug Residents Welfare Association prior to Viraf’s arrival — could have been amicably resolved with the intervention of an angel trustee, he believed.
Leave and license agreements being a touchy subject with Godrej Baug residents, much time was spent on discussing this issue since Dinshaw Mehta and BPP trustee Jimmy Mistry had announced during their last election campaigns that Godrej Baug occupancy would be converted into tenancy. Viraf referred to a legal verdict whereby a ‘Parsi only’ covenant cannot be enforced on a tenancy, and hence to safeguard community properties from going into non-Parsi hands, leave and license agreements are deemed necessary. He suggested instead that the trustees and residents agree on a list of salient conditions which, if not violated, would ensure that leave and license is granted in perpetuity to occupants of Punchayet flats. For a few minutes Viraf was left standing as a helpless onlooker when some residents who had made internal alterations in their flats without the Punchayet’s consent and those who objected to it became abusive with each other. Knowing that there are 180 legal cases pending against several tenants for different reasons, Viraf was in favor of revisiting certain complaints: "If there is a logical conclusion, why not settle?” he reasoned.
Before he could be asked that query by anyone else, Viraf asked himself, "Will I go to Doongerwadi (when I die)? Yes.” He further admitted that "dakhmenashini as a system has failed,” and then added that he was happy that the Prayer Hall has come up because the "Doongerwadi land is now safe.”
Viraf will bring in "a much needed change in the stale atmosphere of the BPP. He will serve as a néta ané mitra (leader and friend),” assured the master of ceremonies. Likening Viraf to car racing legend Michael Schumacher, health guru Mickey Mehta asked the gathering, "Did Schumacher ever make a track record before his first race?” On the same rationale Viraf deserved a first chance too. Mickey sought a commitment from Viraf: "Will you work as hard as your father?” On receiving a confirmation, Mickey was hopeful Viraf would see the Punchayet "revolutionized, maximized, optimized.” "Evolution in the community will only come through revolution to turn things around,” observed Darayas Tirandaz who has worked with Viraf on ZYNG and was aghast at sitting trustee Yazdi Desai’s confession that he would "bring down Dinshaw Mehta even if I go down with him.”
Keen to "restore the credibility of the Punchayet and right the wrongs,” Viraf who described himself as a "proud Parsi,” declared his preference to "focus on tomorrow instead of the past.” When asked whether he would support an aviary project at Doongerwadi, Viraf stated, "The aviary project is not financially viable. The BPP has no funds right now. Only if there is no financial burden and 100% success guaranteed” would he consider breeding of vultures. Would he save the Parsi Lying-in Hospital from going into non-Parsi hands? Would he like to reverse the earlier decision of selling a plot at Panthaky Baug for Rs 28 crores? "On every single issue if you keep looking back, it will open a pandora’s box,” stated Viraf who was willing to look into major loss making transactions but not every deal that has grey areas.
When a Godrej Baug resident sought a response from Dinshaw, Viraf was firm, "He is not the candidate, I am, so you can ask him your queries and doubts after the meeting.” When residents and others attested to Dinshaw’s help in the middle of the night on different community issues, Viraf commented, "Unfortunately everyone has forgotten the good and only remember the bad… At 73 he thinks he is 21. I have learnt from the best… If anyone can prove anything he is accused of, I’ll stop the race for candidature. I will withdraw.”
In his parting words as BPP chairman, Dinshaw was at pains to explain how he had been exonerated by the Economic Offences Wing, the Magistrate’s Court and the police of the "viciously fabricated lies to malign me and my family.” Acknowledging that Punchayet matters had become "an all-consuming obsession with me,” he mentioned how the family businesses had suffered, their hotel in Lonavla was left half completed, the proposed factory at Nagpada was not erected. Feeling "very, very hurt” at the accusations he said he was willing "to shave off his hair or do anything you ask me” if it is proved that he has given or taken any bribe. When he sought to vent his disapproval of the proprietor of the Parsi newspaper who is contesting the election, Viraf gently patted his father who stopped mid sentence.
Instead of forwarding critical social media messages express your "faith in Viraf’s candidature,” urged Mickey, adding, "I always say, ‘if you want good biceps, uplift people.’”