The Desai-Dastur duel
The front-runners in the Bombay Parsi Punchayet trusteeship elections, Anahita Desai and Ervad Xerxes Dastur voice their concerns
Of the five candidates contesting the polls, the two prime contenders are social worker Anahita Desai and chartered accountant Ervad Xerxes Dastur who had started their campaign meetings in different residential colonies in the month of June.
Ervad Xerxes Dastur (l) and Anahita Desai
To gauge a candidate’s worth you shouldn’t see their behavior only during campaign time, nor should you see their promises but you should evaluate, judge and compare their contributions to the community. "Kaam soo kidhooch? Not soo karvanuch (What work have you done? Not what will you do)?” stressed Desai at the campaign meeting at Godrej Baug on June 17, 2018.
"Why do you need another professional on the board? We already have Zarir Bhathena who is a chartered accountant… We need someone who can do ground work. I have shown I have the time, the will and I can deliver… I can get things moving in the community based on my track record… But since I am not a trustee, there are limitations in what I can do. I cannot instruct the staff…It will be an honor for me to serve my community. I will never ever let you down,” said the chief executive officer of the World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis.
She openly confirmed, "Yes, I will support this board… Tell me one thing they have done wrong… I believe in what they are doing… Yes, they are facing a cash crunch. That is because they are not selling flats… They do not want to sponsor the rich… This board has given 135 free flats as against 75 given in seven years during Dinshaw Mehta’s chairmanship.”
Dismissing the claims of two candidates who wish to convert BPP leave and license agreements into tenancies, she said they are "ekdam making you bevakoof (fooling you outright),” for that is "just not possible when trustees are entrusted with protecting the Parsi only covenant.” More old age homes, as advocated by one candidate, are not necessary, she felt, knowing there are vacancies at the Parukh Dharamshalla in Bombay.
The claims to bring in transparency and being independent in the working of the Punchayet, she considered impossible since "one person alone cannot make a difference. This is a board where everyone has to work together. As it is there is a lot of opposition.” She also alleged that as an internal auditor of the BPP for Doongerwadi, Dastur had failed to catch a fraud of nearly two lakh rupees.
Unabashed about her orthodox leanings, she felt candidates should not sit on the fence but should make their voice heard. To counter the criticism that a husband and wife should not work on the same board (her husband Yazdi being the BPP chairman), she repeated that there is no rule barring them and cited instances of Bachi and Dinshaw Tamboly, Mithoo and Jimi Jesia, Zarin and Jimmy Engineer amongst other couples who have served on the boards of other organizations. "Seeing the voting pattern of Armaity Tirandaz and Viraf Mehta who 99% of the time vote as one, their alliance is more strong” than any family ties, she insisted.
(Clockwise from above l): Yazdi Desai, Khojeste Mistree, Dinshaw Mehta, Vispi Dastur
"She’s here to support me and the majority on the trust board… to make things better for the entire community,” Yazdi Desai speaking at the function made a strong pitch in favor of Anahita’s candidature. Describing her as an "outstanding contributor to our community,” Yazdi acknowledged that "all my success is entirely due to her contribution… without which I would be zero.” Shouldering the responsibilities of an executive assistant, Anahita "knows everything about me, all the nitty-gritties, my secret thoughts, murmurings… She knows everything about the BPP. I take her help in everything, including dictating of letters and messages… She needs a promotion from executive assistant to trustee,” he continued. Whilst the Punchayet has employed "a chief executive officer, a chief operating officer, a project head, everyone needs policing. Anahita has time. She is hands-on. She has domain knowledge,” appreciated the husband.
Yazdi stated how Viraf comes to the Punchayet office three times a week and spends two hours each time to photocopy documents and records to take home which are then leaked in Metro Junction, the supplement published by The Bombay Samachar. He also criticized Viraf for allegedly deliberately defacing one leave and license agreement in the case of Building 16, Flat 4 at Khareghat Colony, which he equated with acts of "vandalism and goondaism.” If Xerxes is brought on the board, the front side will be defaced by one and the back side by the other, claimed Yazdi. "Are you going to vote for Xerxes Dastur and create more problems for the board?” rhetorically enquired Yazdi who feared that Dastur as "a proxy of (former BPP chairman) Dinshaw Mehta will go with Tirandaz and Viraf Mehta.”
"We want harmony in the Punchayet… when I was a trustee, it was mobocracy of the Mehta family,” said Khojeste Mistree who appreciated Anahita’s 15-year track-record. "She can even dominate over men… She stands for upholding ethnicity and tradition… What we need is not a person who is fancy in name but a doer…. Bring people to vote for Anahita.”
"I want to get on with action”
"All in the community have to stop saying ‘chaalva deo, javaa deo (forget it, let it pass),’” impressed Xerxes Dastur at the election campaign meeting at the Lady Engineer School on June 16. "It is important that we all understand that the Punchayet is not just an administrative organization looking after housing, it actually represents the community and should be able to enhance the respect with which the community is viewed… It should play a leadership role… As a community organization it should be transparent…with the same rules applicable to all.” Concerned that voters have queries and do not know how to resolve them, he felt that the community should have easy access to all information on the net.
Whilst alluding to his plans to have a group mediclaim for the seniors in the community, better utilization of infrastructure in the residential colonies, promoting counseling and entrepreneurship among the youth, Dastur felt the BPP committees of yore specializing in legal matters, housing, elections, etc should be reinstated since the seven trustees "are definitely not the wisest or the smartest.”
When informed that 300 housing files are pending with the Punchayet for transfer of names, Dastur opined that these do not need to come up for discussion at board meetings; they should be dealt with routinely by the concerned personnel. Free up flats locked in litigation, he recommended. Seeing leave and license being "misused by the trustees,” he was in favor of rental agreements if the Parsi only covenant could be protected. When asked how he would prevent the Punchayet from wasting funds on frivolous litigation, Dastur responded that only if the specially constituted legal committee recommends litigation should the Punchayet pursue matters in court. Aware that the "legal fraternity in Bombay is supported by Parsi litigants,” Xerxes stated that "although individually we are doing brilliantly, collectively we are a failure because of the community’s divisive attitude… The Punchayet should inspire faith so that community members turn to it for solutions instead of approaching courts...
"I want to get on with action. I don’t want to address factions,” he maintained. "I will try and avoid infighting, look at issues rather than personalities.” Disappointed that the community Press is not completely free, he regretted that "none of the letters in my support are being published in the two weeklies… I am running this election without any newspaper supporting me; please spread the word on social media.” When a Gamadia Colony resident candidly informed Dastur that he alone would not be able to bring any change in the working of the Punchayet, Dastur asked him, "Hu try bhi nahi karu (should I not try at least)? Tomorrow someone else will come in and together we may be able to make a difference… We need community activism.”
The principal of Lady Engineer School, Errick Elavia, described Dastur as "very, very, very approachable.” He further stressed that Dastur was standing as an individual candidate, not in partnership with a sitting trustee, "otherwise we would have seven trustees from the same family.” Xerxes’ father Vispi gave him credit for joining "bapa nu firm (father’s firm) of V. S. Dastur and Company after passing his chartered accountancy examination, and now managing it creditably, proving "he is an able administrator and able to get things done.” "We have to be careful that we don’t allow the bedroom to come into the boardroom,” stated Dinshaw Mehta who feared that two votes exercised by Yazdi and Anahita, plus the casting vote by Yazdi as BPP chairman would give them a "dictatorial” edge.
Refuting the allegation that he would serve as Dinshaw Mehta’s puppet, Xerxes announced, "Yes I am supported by Dinshaw Mehta as I am by Dinshaw Tamboly, Cyrus Guzder, Keki Mistry and 50 other prominent members of the community. But I am capable of taking independent decisions.”
Other contenders
Ratan Patel’s motive for standing for election is "the same pinch as all other community members when BPP increases its charges,” according to his advertisement in the Jam-e-Jamshed. "Strong influential candidates have been a disappointment for the community,” he noted. "I may not be able to hold meetings at all the baugs or …give fancy brochures…but I promise to give my time, sincerity, honesty and heartfelt ambition…”
Erstwhile president of the now defunct Parsi Sena, Eric Dhatigara assured in the Metro Junction that he would "not leave any stone unturned and will work day and night for the members of my Parsi Zoroastrian community, overcoming all hurdles coming in the way to wipe off tears from their eyes and bring a big smile on their faces.”
Candidate Kersi Sethna has not released any manifesto.