I have read with shock and wonder the resignation letter of Muncherji Cama, trustee of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP).
Cama, a respectable businessman, a charitable soul with an acknowledged record of good words, thoughts and deeds, came on the board some years ago and without doubt had the good of the Zoroastrian community at heart. He defeated (in the BPP elections in 2011) the wife of one of the sitting trustees, Yazdi Desai, and that too with the assistance of the BPP chairman Dinshaw Mehta. Thus, the battle lines were laid from the start. It was a tussle between the chairman and the representatives of WAPIZ (World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis), who pass off as scholars of the prehistoric idea of what it is to be a Parsi.
Look at the people we have elected as a result of the ill-conceived adult franchise. We have persons with questionable and questioned backgrounds. We have the WAPIZ people who forget that in the ultimate analysis we are Zoroastrians; that Parsi is a terminology given to us in India and does not separate us from the internationally existent Zoroastrian community and faith. The only trustee with a respectable reputation has left in disgust at the shenanigans in the BPP.
The Zoroastrian community had a blemish free reputation in India and abroad. It is only after the arrival of this mixed bag of trustees who fed the fun-loving, peg-swilling foolish Parsis that we have become a public laughing stock.
I have also read some emails exchanged by community members and agree with one of Cama’s own comments that none of the present trustees (and their family members) should be voted in for the next term. In fact, with no insult to the community, perhaps adult franchise should be scrapped as we are clearly not ready for such a mature exercise. I also feel that elders of the Zoroastrian community should request respectable persons and stalwarts to consider taking over and re-establishing the BPP, restoring the good name and the faith of the community by raising its image in the country and the world. JAMSHED IRANI
iranjams@yahoo.in