On Saturday, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad held a grand felicitation ceremony at Karsewakpuram in Ayodhya to honour 41 lawyers, including veteran Supreme Court lawyer Keshav Parasaran who represented Ram Lalla and the Hindu parties in Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case.

According to the reports, the event led by Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, head of the Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas and Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Sadhvi Ritambhara was organised to felicitate lawyers who fought for the cause of Ram Mandir.

The celebratory event, a first by VHP after the November 9 Supreme Court verdict, saw some emotional scenes as VHP karyakartas and priests showed their respects to the 92-year-old lawyer Keshav Parasaran. VHP leader Sadhvi Ritambhara applied ’tilak’ on Keshav Parasaran, who had led the team of lawyers in the courtroom battle.

On the request of saints, Parasaran also recited a few verses from the Ramayan. Parasaran’s description of an impromptu dance by monkeys outside his Delhi home after verdict won the hearts of VHP activists and attendees.

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Senior Supreme Court lawyers CS Vaidyanathan, additional solicitor general of the Government of India Vikramjeet Banerjee, lawyers PV Yogeswaran and Madan Mohan Pandey and former high court judge Kamleshwar Nath were also felicitated. The VHP also felicitated family members of karsevaks who died in police firing in Ayodhya on October 30, 1990.

Read: My last wish before I die is to see a logical end to this case: Ram Lalla’s 92 year old lawyer

Champat Rai, international vice president of the VHP, informed the gathering that Parasaran used to keep standing in court for four hours at a stretch during the hearing of the case in the last 40 days.

“Everyday, Parasaran ji would spend four-five hours in the court. He would stand as the case was of Lord Ram. These lawyers took off their shoes in the courtroom during the hearing, such was their respect for God,” said Ritambhara.

Ritambhara went to the makeshift temple at Ramjanbhamoomi and worshipped Ram Lalla. Earlier in the day, K Parasaran along with his family members, including son Mohan Parasaran, had paid obeisance to Ram Lalla at the makeshift Ram temple.

The VHP karyakartas cheered and raised Peaceful slogans of ‘Jai Siya Ram’ and ‘Jai Shri Ram’ as each lawyer was garlanded and gifted a framed photograph of the proposed Ram temple. Before leaving for the temple, Parasaran and his family members took a holy dip in the River Sarayu.

On November 9, in a historic judgement ending a dispute spanning centuries, the Supreme Court of India handed over the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri masjid land to the Hindu parties, making way for Hindu devotees to have a grand Ram Mandir at the birthplace of Lord Ram.

The Apex court also ordered the union government to provide 5 acres of land at an alternate site at a prominent location in Ayodhya to the Sunni Waqf Board to rebuild the Babri Masjid which was demolished in 1992.