K Parasaran, Hindu parties' counsel in Ayodhya case, made member of Ram Temple trust; 92-yr-old is a Vedic scholar, Padma Vibhushan awardee

The office of the newly-formed Ram Temple trust will be set up at the house of two-time Attorney General of India and the lead counsel for the Hindu parties in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute case K Parasaran. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in Lok Sabha on Wednesday, announced the formation of the trust  which goes by the name Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra. The notification issued by the Ministryof Home Affairs mentions, “…a Trust by the name ‘Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra’ has been registered with its registered office at R-20, Greater Kailash Part -1, New Delhi, 110048.” According to the website of Supreme Court Bar Association, this is the residential address of Parasaran. [caption id=“attachment_8007431” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of K Parasaran. PTI[/caption] Parasaran, as the lead counsel for the Hindu parties in one of the longest running land dispute cases, successfully argued for the possession of the entire disputed land in the case heard by the Supreme Court. The apex court ruled in favour of the deity “Ram Lalla Virajman” on 9 November 2019. During the hearing, the 92-year-old senior lawyer had told the apex court that it must do “full and complete justice” in all matters and added that his last wish was to finish the Ayodhya case.

K Parasaran — former Attorney General of India and an erudite Hindu scholar

Described as the pitamaha of the Indian Bar Association, Parasaran is an erudite Hindu scholar and often has quoted from the Hindu scriptures in his arguments in the Ayodhya case. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government in 2003 and the Padma Vibhushan, the civillian honour that is second only to the Bharat Ratna, by the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government in 2011. He was then nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 2012. Born in Tamil Nadu’s Srirangam in 1927, he comes from a family of lawyers. His father Kesava Aiyengar was a lawyer and a Vedic scholar who practiced at the Madras High Court and the Supreme Court. Now, Parasaran’s three sons, Mohan, Satish and Balaji, are also lawyers. Parasaran started practising in the Supreme Court in 1958. During the Emergency, Parasaran was the Advocate General of Tamil Nadu and was then appointed as the Solicitor General of India in 1980. He served as Attorney General of India from 1983 to 1989. A report by News18 said, “Assisted by a team of young associates, it was Parasaran’s spiritual relationship he felt with Ram that kept the nonagenarian lawyer going. He worked on each and every aspect of the case before the hearing began every day at 10.30 am and after the day wrapped up at 4 pm or 5 pm.” Earlier on Wednesday, the MHA notification also said that the Uttar Pradesh government had already issued the allotment letter of a five-acre plot to the Sunni Waqf Board, one of the Muslim parties to the case, for construction of a mosque, as directed by the Supreme Court. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday morning told the Lok Sabha that the Union Cabinet had given its approval for the constitution of a trust for the construction of the Ram temple. Making a statement in the Lower House soon after the meeting of the Union Cabinet, Modi said, “We have readied a scheme for the development of Ram Temple in Ayodhya. A trust has been formed, it is called ‘Shri Ram Janambhoomi Teertha Kshetra’. I salute the 130 crore people of India,” he said. Seeking to emphasise the importance of the announcement, Modi repeated twice “Aayee Aayee” (Come come) before urging all members to support in one voice the construction of the Ram Temple, amid “Jai Shri Ram” slogans from treasury benches. The Supreme Court earlier had directed the government to form the trust within three months with 9 February as the deadline. Home Minister Amit Shah said the trust will have 15 members, including one from the Dalit community. With inputs from agencies