Reformist Bohras planning to meet in Udaipur in February

In February, the reformist section of the Dawoodi Bohra community will hold their 14th ‘All World Dawoodi Bohra Conference’ in Udaipur, Rajasthan.

Much of the meeting’s agenda is routine - to elect a new central executive committee and to review work done in the three years since the last meeting.

But one important concern that is expected to be voiced at the meeting is how to push the reformist movement forward.

The Dawoodi Bohras split into reformist and orthodox wings in the early 1970s after a series of incidents in Udaipur where a group raised the banner of revolt against the community’s religious bureaucracy.

The reformists set up their own administrative trust. But after nearly 40 years, only an estimated 25,000 - a miniscule minority in the 1.2 million-strong community - count themselves openly as reformist.

The overwhelming majority still stand behind their Mumbai-based spiritual leader, Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin.

Reformist leader and general secretary of the Central Board of Dawood Bohra Community Dr Asghar Ali Engineer said that one of the main objectives of February’s meeting is to explore ways to attract more supporters.

“We know that many more people are with us, but fear (of the religious bureaucracy) keeps them away. We want to think of some innovative methods to make the movement wider and attract more people,” said Engineer.

The Dawoodi Bohras, a relatively prosperous sect made largely of businessmen and traders are one of India’s most closely knit groups.

Nothing in the community, including marriages and funerals, can happen without the permission or knowledge of local religious officials appointed by their Mumbai-based central trust.

The split in the community happened in 1973 when a few Bohras set up a cooperative bank, library and a scholarship fund in Udaipur, apparently without the permission of local religious leaders.

The rebels said they had fulfilled all legal requirements as far as law of the land was concerned and that they needed no other permissions.

Since then, the orthodox-reformist division has cleaved the community. Till the ‘90s, the differences often led to violent incidents, including a mob attack on Engineer’s house in Mumbai. Relations between the two groups have been more or less peaceful in the last decade.

Engineer said, “Any movement has different phases and the ‘80s and ‘90s were the most crucial for the Bohra reform movement. Though incidents of violence have come down, our demands remain.”

The reformist demands include stopping the communal boycott of families who stand up against the religious bureaucracy, dispensing with the system of having to take permission from them for functions like marriages, elections to select local officials and accountability for the seven types of taxes that every Dawoodi Bohra is expected to pay the central trust.

The response of the orthodox section to the conference is that of nonchalance. Shaikh Abdeali Bhanpurwala, spokesperson for the Syedna said, “We are least bothered by their activities. The fact that their membership has not grown beyond a few thousands shows that they have little support.”