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Ven Sobitha Thera critically ill in Singapore hospital
View(s):The Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha Thera, who played a key role in the campaign to defeat the Rajapaksa regime, is critically ill at a hospital in Singapore, a spokesman said yesterday. The prelate, who was flown to Singapore on Tuesday for urgent medical treatment, after suffering from several complications, including heart failure, is being attended to by several specialists, including two Sri Lankan doctors who accompanied him there. President Maithripala Sirisena has said the cost of medical treatment will be borne by the State.
Ven Sobitha, head of the Kotte Naga Viaharaya and chairman of the National Movement for Social Justice, played a key role in the run up to last January‘s presidential election, campaigning vigorously against corruption in the former regime and for President Sirisena’s election.
The firebrand monk has been in the forefront of many of the country’s political upheavals during the past four decades. In 2014, he offered to become the common Opposition candidate to former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, when no one else was willing to come forward.
He also campaigned strongly for the release of Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka when the ex-Army Commander was imprisoned by the former regime, and led street protests against the government of President J.R. Jayewardene, when the Indo-Lanka Accord was signed in 1987.