With solicitor and community activist Berjis Desai refraining from contesting the March 14, 2021 Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) trusteeship elections, the stage is set for a possibly bitter contest between retired assistant commissioner of customs and honorary secretary of the Cusrow Baug United Sports and Welfare League Hoshang Jal, reportedly supported by BPP trustee Kersi Randeria, and whichever candidate the former BPP chairman Dinshaw Mehta chooses to back. The name of community activist Phiroze Amroliwalla is being bandied about. Both have unsuccessfully contested trusteeship elections before. When asked by Parsiana if he would contest, Amroliwalla replied diplomatically, "Let’s wait and see." When Mehta was asked if Amroliwalla would be his candidate, he refrained from replying.
Two seats on the BPP board are vacant, that of chartered accountant and property developer Zarir Bhathena who expired in June last year and BPP chairman Yazdi Desai who resigned in December 2020 following a stroke in April. Yazdi’s wife Anahita is contesting one of the two seats and is expected to win easily. Berjis would also have won with the support of his allies Mehta and Randeria but internal differences and rivalries between the two kingmakers and longtime foes prevented the candidacy.
At one time it appeared certain that Berjis would stand despite his misgivings about doing so. One former trustee’s reaction when Berjis informed him of his intentions to contest was: "Ghélo chhè ké (are you mad)?" But if competent candidates refrain from standing, what will become of community institutions?
This election is crucial as whosoever wins the second seat will constitute the majority on the seven-member board. Anahita is closer to the Randeria-Noshir Dadrawala camp. If the second seat is contested and won by Jal, he is expected to favor them. If the candidate supported by Mehta wins he/she would side with chairperson Armaity Tirandaz, trustees Viraf Mehta and Xerxes Dastur, all three Dinshaw loyalists.
The new trustees will face a daunting task. The BPP is bereft of funds. The 50% share that the trust is supposed to contribute for repairs to buildings in their colonies remain unpaid, according to residents; subsidies to mobeds and couples for having a second or third child are delayed; raising funds to pay salaries every month is a Herculean undertaking. How many fixed deposits can a trust keep breaking to meet mounting, running expenses?
Any hope of generating more income is just that, a hope. Three trustees aligned to Dinshaw even discontinued the monthly Rs 750 service charge residents had to pay in BPP managed colonies. That’s an annual loss of around two crore rupees (USD 273,652), a high price to pay to win popularity. Residents of the five Wadia Baugs received no such waiver as they are managed by the Wadia Committee that exerts greater fiscal discipline.
Several housing projects are stuck halfway or are completed but remain unoccupied due to differences between the trustees and outside parties, municipal formalities, outstanding dues, etc. If a USD 22.5 million (Rs 164 crore) donation for constructing a cosmopolitan hospital from whose turnover The B. D. Petit Parsee General Hospital’s losses were to be subsidized could be scuttled by a handful or the development of the Parsi Lying-In Hospital by one individual, what possibility is there of developing properties with outside builders? Almost none.
The cost of maintaining existing infrastructure also looms large. In the last few months generous donors have contributed around a crore of rupees (USD 136,826) for renovating bunglis and a dakhma at Doongerwadi. Less than two bodies a day are consigned to the dakhmas in Bombay but even then symbolic prayers at Doongerwadi were denied by the majority of trustees to those who died of Covid and perforce had to be cremated. This, even though two high priests had given their consent to the humanitarian gesture. The annual deficit at Doongerwadi fluctuates between two to four crore rupees (USD 273,741 to 547,483). Agiaries and doongerwadi estates throughout India are being repaired at an expense of crores of rupees. Most of these institutions lie bereft of worshippers, with nary a mobed.
This January 12, Pope Francis increased the ecclesiastic duties women can undertake in the Catholic Church. "They can be installed as lectors, read scripture and serve on the altar as eucharistic ministers. Previously, such roles were officially reserved for men even though exceptions were made," stated the Associated Press (AP). The report also added the move, according to votaries of the reform, would help "address priest shortages in several parts of the world."
While women perform priestly functions in the Zoroastrian communities in Iran and North America among other places, they are taboo in India. Any hope of reforming customs here is an exercise in futility. Despite such few worshippers, many priests and trustees still endeavor, unwittingly, to prevent more from entering.
Aside from putting their own house in order, the BPP trustees at some stage will have to look at revitalizing The Federation of the Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India (FPZAI). The all-India body has been reduced to a rubber stamp by Yazdi. The constitution of the FPZAI was amended so that the BPP chairman becomes the ex officio president of the FPZAI. Earlier, the BPP chairman was supposed to occupy the president’s post "from time to time."
But perhaps the greatest calamity facing the BPP and the community is the increased pace of population decline. From the 2001 (69,601) to the 2011 (57,264) Government of India census, the rate of decline was little under 18%. That means the net decline in 10 years was 12,337 or 1,234 annually. Allowing for the same rate of decline the 2021 census figure for Parsis may be 44,927 (57,264-12,337). Assuming 66% of these are from Bombay, the 2021 Bombay figure would come to 29,651.
In 2001 the Bombay population was over 46,000 (the 2011 census figures did not disclose the count of Bombay Parsis). Thus in 20 years the decline is around 16,000 or 800 a year. The death figure for 2020 for Bombay was 841, of which 721 were consigned to the dakhmas and 120 were cremated (including 47 who died from contracting the Covid-19 virus). So the projected estimates, if anything, are modest. If the BPP trustees are to plan ahead they have to study the census reports and projections prepared by reputed demographers and institutions.
Unless they do so, they may direct precious community assets to less meaningful endeavors.