After Agarwal, historian Thakur Prasad Verma, a Banaras Hindu University professor, took over the baton and represented Ram Lalla Virajman in court from 1996 to 2009. Later, his age and frail health failed Verma, and he passed on the baton to Triloki Nath Pandey, a VHP office-bearer, in 2008, when Pandey took over as ‘next friend’ of Ram Lalla Virajman.In the absence of all three next friends, the moment of the consecration of Ram Lalla is a difficult one, but it is also nostalgic for their families.Deoki Nandan Agarwal’s daughter Meenu, who has come all the way from Barmingham to witness the ceremony, falls short of words to express the emotions her father would have felt while seeing Ram Lalla move to his home. She recalls the odds and the hardships her father was made to go through by his dispensation for being the next friend of Ram Lalla, despite his stature as a retired High Court judge.Similarly, Siddharth Verma, son of Prof. Thakur Prasad Verma, recalls that his father had also read out the 12th-century Shilapatta (plaque) in Nagari script and Sanskrit that was used to establish that the place belonged to Avatar of Vishnu, who killed Bali and Ravana. The temple was more than just a cause for his father.Pandey’s son Amit, a software engineer based in Gurgaon, recalls that the Ram Janmabhoomi case was of supreme importance for this father. Pandey’s wife, Kamla Devi, is an invitee to the consecration ceremony, and she has already reached the temple town.Amit recalls how his father would always be confident of the outcome of the court case in the vexed issue. “I know the outcome… but the judgement is a matter of time,” Amit recalls his father’s thoughts.
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