Dear Editor,

This has reference to the item that appeared in Jam-e-Jamshed of 3rd July, 2016 under ‘BPP Chairman and 3 Trustees decide to BAN Jame.’ In this context, I would like to state as follows:

Is it mandatory for BPP to give an advertisement in JAME irrespective of the rates?  Firstly, it is one of the oldest community newspapers. Please note that you are not the owner but a paid Editor. I feel that since BPP is a Charitable Trust, Parsi papers or periodicals are not justified in charging anything since the matter is in the interest of community. In fact, BPP Announcements are more in the nature of Public Notices and there is no commercial gain as in the case of an advertisement of a product which is meant to promote sales.

Moreover, the present BPP objects to Jame giving 15% discount and needs 50% discount. I don’t see anything wrong in the request. In fact, I appreciate the efforts of Trustees to save Trust money which is not their own. JJ stated that rates were acceptable to previous Chairman. Is there any rule that present Chairman should accept what was acceptable to the previous Chairman/Board? Here once again, I remind JJ why they are mentioning only the Chairman when it was the Board of BPP that passed the resolution by majority. I hope you know the meaning of democracy.

I would like to tell JJ that already, the price of your paper is Rs. 5/- in comparison to Rs. 3/- by Parsi Times. Can any reader or Trustee of BPP, compel Jame to sell the paper only for Rs 3/-? You set a funny rule that if a Trustee is owner of Press he should not charge anything to the Trust. Please let the owner of Jame, Mr. Dubash, also declare that he will not charge anything if he is elected as Trustees of BPP! Ha Ha Ha!! If Cama and Randeria are not charging anything, it is their goodness.

You state that this is done to help PT. Here you contradict yourself – since you state that PT is publishing BPP matters FREE. So how does that help PT when it published such Notices FREE?

Please note, that it is a duty of an Editor to confirm the story with the opposite party before any story is published. Recently, same mistake was done by TOI in publishing the story without confirming the fact from Mr. Mehta – ex-Chairman. He did not lose the election – in fact, he did not contest. Now Desai’s charge seems justified.

To my shock, JJ’s Editor says that it is not feasible or necessary for any newspaper to cross-check! I feel you need to know that it is the basic duty of an Editor to verify the news and reports before anything is published. Just to remind you, in not doing so, you and your owners and publishers had to tender a prominent apology, for publishing something which was not true. I don’t think that you have such a short memory.

Now JJ states that JAME IS OPEN TO ALL. What a joke! How many letters of mine were published after madam took over as Editor of Jame? I think it was only one and I am sure that was also by oversight. I do not wish to question the Editor’s prerogative to publish letters – you have full discretion to choose what to publish or not. I’d like to know the fate of my six letters which were not published by Jame, along with their dates and subjects as under: 22-08-2013: Interfaith Marriages; 30-11-2014: Organ Donations-To Be Or not to be; 12-12-2014: Tomfoolery From Trickster; 27-01-2015: Chalo Chok Purye; 12-04-2015: Muluching; and 16-04-2016: An open letter to BPP – pertaining to the allotment of flats to Ms. Shernaz Engineer and her brother by the previous Board of Trustees. The letter was addressed to Trustees of BPP with copies marked to JJ, Parsi Times and Parsiana. Can JJ still claim that its doors are open to all?

As stated in the JJ last week, Trustees Noshir and Zarir were not in very much in favour of the ban. Perhaps that’s true, but were they forced to vote in favour of the Ban? Even so, then it is a very healthy trend that Trustees discuss the pros and cons of any matter. Can it be established that Noshir and Zarir voted due to coercion? Or does JJ believe that that are not independent and incapable of applying their minds? It is also worth mentioning that the Board may be divided in this ‘Ban’ but they all voted UNANIMOUSLY for allotting a flat to Dr. Master in Cusrow Baug.  What I want to convey here is that it’s healthy that trustees agree and differ as that’s the democratic way of functioning.

JJ speaks of ‘FREEDOM OF PRESS’! I fail to understand how freedom is adversely affected by majority of decision of BPP? You cannot compel anyone to compulsorily advertise in the JJ. Lastly, it would have been good had JJ shown some class by phrasing the last sentence in the article avoiding the words “though banned by four  majority BPP Trustees” and instead written “Banned by BPP” – and not blamed four trustees who voted for the  ban. I once again request JJ and all Parsi Press to publish this letter and my letter dated 16-04-2016. That’s how JJ can prove its credentials of being unbiased.

Homi Dalal