As the Apex court delivers its historic verdict on the Shree Ram Janmabhoomi case, analysts around have welcomed the decision as the final seal of justice on the contentious issue which has survived for centuries. Of the stakeholders involved in the case, K Parasaran, a veteran lawyer who served as the lead counsel for the Hindu side, was certainly one of the few who put genuine efforts into bringing this centuries-old dispute to a constructive logical conclusion.
The 92-year-old lawyer, leading the legal fight of Hindus to construct Ram Mandir, has been in the legal profession for more than six decades.
During the hearing of the Shree Ram Janmabhoomi case in the Apex court, K Parasaran had certainly put forth the views and demands of the Hindu side in a diligent and considerate way. Even in the case of the Sabrimala Temple last year, K Parasaran led the fight as one of the faces representing the viewpoint of the Hindu community.
A Vedic Hindu scholar himself, Parasaran has been appointed at critical positions by governments across party lines. During his career, K Parasaran has held important constitutional offices like the office of the Attorney General of India from 1983 to 1989. He had earlier served as the Advocate-General of Tamil Nadu in 1976. K Parasaran was also awarded the Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan in 2003 and 2011 respectively. Later he was also nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the Indian President in 2012 for a period of six years.
Nonetheless despite being top choice of the government in many cases, Parasaran at a number of occasions took line opposing the government like in 1985, as Solicitor General of India, he had refused to defend the Indira Gandhi government in court in a case relating to demolishing a building of a national daily and offered to resign if he was forced to appear. The government, despite his public statement, not only retained him in office but promoted him as Attorney General of India in the coming two months.
Born in Tamil Nadu’s Srirangam in 1927, K Parasaran started his practice before the Supreme Court in 1958. During the Emergency, he was Advocate General of Tamil Nadu and in 1980 he was appointed Solicitor General of India. He later went on to serve as Attorney General of India from 1983 to 1989.
“My last wish before I die, is to finish this case.” was the response by K Parasaran, when Rajiv Dhavan , the lawyer representing the Sunni Waqf Board had objected to daily hearings of the case. Ultimately it was his faith along with the faith and belief of crores of Indians which finally brought this dispute to a juristic end.
