{"id":202189,"date":"2019-06-01T18:02:23","date_gmt":"2019-06-01T12:32:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=202189"},"modified":"2019-06-01T18:02:23","modified_gmt":"2019-06-01T12:32:23","slug":"political-hand-behind-rathanas-protest-fast-comes-to-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/political-hand-behind-rathanas-protest-fast-comes-to-light\/","title":{"rendered":"Political Hand Behind Rathana\u2019s Protest Fast Comes To Light"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In a strange twist of events, Athuraliye Rathana thera\u2019s protest fast which kick started yesterday morning, has found an ally in an unlikely place. TNA MP S. Viyalendiran today pledged his support to Rathana thera and began his own protest fast at the Gandhi Park in Batticaloa today.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Rathana.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-202190\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Rathana.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"895\" height=\"671\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Rathana.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Rathana-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 895px) 100vw, 895px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Although this act may seem like the merging of strange bedfellows on the surface &#8211; the mystery solves itself when taking a look at political events during the Constitutional coup in October &#8211; November, 2018.<\/p>\n<p>Viyalendiran was among the MPs who pledged support to the Maithripala Sirisena &#8211; Mahinda Rajapaksa nexus during the Constitutional Coup along with Rathana thera. He was even sworn in as the Minister of Regional Development for the Eastern Province.<\/p>\n<p>If there was ever a doubt on Rathana thera\u2019s motivations for this protest fast, it has now been made clear.<\/p>\n<p>The protest fast that began yesterday morning in front of the Kandy Dalada Temple, is continuing and the demand is for President to oust Muslim politicos Rishard Bathiudeen, M L A M Hizbullah and Azath Salley from their positions and for a Presidential Committee to be appointed to probe into allegations of Doctor\u00a0Shafi Siyabdeen\u00a0of Kurunegala Teaching Hospital performing unconsented tubal ligations on some 4000 Sinhalese women.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":202190,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-202189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-news","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - 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