Seems like yesterday that the felicitations for the new BPP Board were on in full swing... Today, the mood is rife with strife and looming litigation The beleaguered Bombay Parsi Panchayat (BPP) is in for more… and yet more… trouble. If President Barack Obama finds that his hair is greying after a mere 44 days in office, he should thank his lucky stars he is nowhere near the BPP! As most would by now probably know, the harried BPP Trustees are losing their hair, their appetite, their sleep and their peace of mind – for no apparent fault.
Earnest and assiduous in the discharge of their duties (for most of the part), and validated by the mandate of the entire community via the first ever general elections, they are being needlessly heckled over the issue of flat allotments. Things have come to such a pass that a so-called dismissal decree has reportedly been issued. Of course, it is being contested.
However, a little perspective would not be out of place. Of the stipulated 104 flat allotments (the current bone of contention), the BPP has long since agreed to a majority of cases. A minority of applicants were found unsuitable and all that the Trustees requested was the time and opportunity to submit them to further scrutiny, so that less deserving people don’t get hustled and muscled through by the maverick masterminds of unnecessary dissent.
Debate and discourse are the fundamental fulcrums of any democracy. But to warp them into disruptive and disgraceful politicking, driven by personal vendetta, does no decent person any credit.
Unfortunately, decency and decorum have been thrown to the winds as the community witnessed a blatant bout of lies being bandied about on a recent television show, which made every simple-hearted, honest-to-goodness Parsi cringe to the core (fortunately much of the community still falls into the category of right-thinking people wanting to do the right thing).
Anybody who was under any illusion that the televised venting of vituperation against the Trustees, with underprivileged Parsis propped up as pawns in the game, did the community any good is definitely delusional.
Let it not be forgotten: There is an elected Panchayat in place right now. And the Trustees have a very fresh stamp of support from the entire community. They are fully capable of executing the tasks they have been entrusted with. If the community did not want them there, they would not be in office. Their functioning cannot endlessly be called to question, nor their decisions berated, bulldozed and bludgeoned by some people who were pummelled at the polls!
Those trying to undermine the present BPP board need to understand and appreciate that the current Trustees are the people’s choice. Period.
They have got to be supported and they will be supported, because this is the Parsi Punchayet – and every Parsi who has cast his or her vote for the sitting Trustees will stand by them unflinchingly and honourably. That is the Parsi ethos. All other ugliness is an aberration.
