The traditional power centers in the community — the punchayets, the priesthood and the Press (the three Ps) — are apparent to all. But new focal points keep emerging as supremacy shifts. The fluidity and dynamics of such changes are not always obvious. Sometimes it is a persuasive or pushing person, other times it is a quiet and persistent individual; often it is a group of disparate people unwittingly coming together for a common cause. The concept of leadership, of who governs, is changing not only in the community but in the world.
In October 2008, universal adult franchise (UAF) was introduced for the first time in the Bombay community. That signaled a handing over of power from an oligarchy to the community at large.
But the real Parsi Spring was in mid-1980 with the overnight emergence of the Committee for Electoral Rights (CER). The impetus for the formation of the CER which swept the 1981 Anjuman Committee elections was ironically a former Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) chairman, B. K. Boman-Behram.
The move came in the wake of a meeting of dissident community activists to lobby for electoral reforms. The meeting held in the office of Shiavax Vakil, legal advisor to the House of Tatas and a former BPP trustee, prompted Boman-Behram and some of his co-trustees to form a committee of their own to supposedly initiate change. Indian Administrative Service officer Jamsheed Kanga and noted lawyer Dadi Engineer served on the BPP committee but when they grew disillusioned with its functioning, they left and sought the support of like-minded individuals such as Noshir Sidhwa of Grindwell Norton, noted lawyer and later solicitor general of India Tehmtan Andhyarujina, social worker Silloo Kavarana, Tata director Fali Poncha, journalist-cum-solicitor Berjis Desai amongst others. Dinshaw Mehta, who hailed from a family of politicians, had independently rounded up votes in one of the smaller donor registers and joined forces with the CER. Later Jamshed Guzder, then a sitting BPP trustee, and management consultant Minoo Shroff threw their lot in with the new bloc. When electoral meetings were held at the erstwhile Sir Cowasjee Jehangir Hall and elsewhere only standing room was available. Kanga, Engineer, Shroff, Kavarana and Mehta all went on to become BPP trustees.
Twenty-eight years later UAF became a reality due to the deft maneuvering of Desai and the pressure built on the beleaguered BPP trustees by the Alert Zoroastrians Association (AZA), the group founded by entrepreneur Kersi Randeria, businessman Percy Patel and consultant Zeree Jehangirji. The AZA, like the World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis (WAPIZ), was not formed with the intention of seizing power but influencing decision making. In the case of the AZA it was the BPP’s housing policy which they believed was neither transparent nor fair. Randeria had served on the BPP’s housing advisory committee before becoming disillusioned with the scheme of allotments.
In WAPIZ’s case the cementing factor was the December 2004 meeting of the Federation of the Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India (FPZAI) held in Ahmedabad. Religious activist Khojeste Mistree along with a relative newcomer to the community scene, Yazdi Desai attended the meet to oppose formation of a world body they alleged was "cosmopolitan.” They attended despite reservations expressed by the Ahmedabad Parsi Panchayat president and subsequently WAPIZ chairman, Areez Khambatta who feared the Zoroastrian Studies founder may rake discord. But subsequently they found common ground in the need for a vociferous orthodox lobby.
In the subsequent FPZAI meetings Mistree and his wife Feroza, Yazdi Desai and his wife Anahita, and Dadar resident and soon to be a force in community politicking, Tannaz Parakh, all attended as representatives of pliable, minuscule anjumans. WAPIZ and its allied anjumans were able to not only thwart the formation of a global body prior to the 2005 World Zoroastrian Congress held in London, but maneuvered to capture nearly all the official positions in the all-India body.
When the BPP in its high-handed manner barred two priests they termed "renegade” from performing any religious ceremonies at Doongerwadi and two fire temples controlled by the trustees, it was Kanga, who along with former Glaxo managing director and Tata director Homi Khusrokhan successfully challenged the ban in the Bombay High Court. Their main counsel, Iqbal Chagla, who along with other public spirited lawyers fought the case pro bono, was in return denied an invitation to attend the BPP function to felicitate his one-time chamber junior Darius Khambata on being appointed advocate general of Maharashtra.
There are other emerging power brokers, or movers and shakers, or "oilers and boilers.” In the priesthood Dastur Khurshed Dastoor and Ervad (Dr) Ramiyar Karanjia are growing in stature and influence. Dastoor’s presence as the chief guest at the FPZAI West Zone B meet in Surat this April, despite the howls of protest from WAPIZ, shows that he is not averse to taking up cudgels for the causes he believes in. Unlike Dasturs (Drs) Kaikhusroo JamaspAsa and Firoze Kotwal who shun political platforms while propagating their particular brand of orthodoxy based on race and gender discrimination, Dastoor has shown a more balanced approach to community issues.
The same may be said of Karanjia who whilst being still shackled to some traditionalist beliefs at least publicly concedes the problems that face the community; the other five high priests ostrich-like bury their heads in the sand. Karanjia is not a high priest even though he has all the qualifications to become one. But the process of appointment is so convoluted, arbitrary and even hypocritical that it is more a reflection of the failings of the system rather than any shortcoming in the individual.
Dinshaw Tamboly made the World Zoroastrian Organisation (WZO) a household word by raising funds for various community causes and setting up institutions.
Dr Homi Dhalla initiated the move for installing solar concentrators at Doongerwadis throughout India much to the annoyance of Mistree and company who favored aviaries. Property developer and designer Jimmy Mistry shot to prominence in the community and later became a BPP trustee on account of his Parsi Resource Group (PRG) and the monetary assistance to the priesthood.
Vispi Dastur of the Bombay Parsee Association and the Iran League sees that the Parsi stalwarts of old, whose statues adorn the city, are remembered on their birth anniversaries with garlands. Kusti weaving, prayer, monajat, Shahnameh and other competitions are annually conducted.
On the political field the unlikely grouping of community activists Mehernosh Fitter, Firoze Kotwal and Dr Viraf Kapadia, armed with mobile phones, e-mail lists and the Right to Information Act, have proved to be a thorn in the BPP’s side. They have even initiated criminal proceedings against the trustees. The Association for the Revival of Zoroastrianism (ARZ) was able to thwart the BPP trustees’ efforts to prevent/disrupt the navjote celebrations of Roshni Maloo and Savio Desouza’s two children.
For the rest of India and the world where UAF exists, individuals and groups continuously effect positive change. Bombay is still on a learning curve.