Sat Maharaj suffers stroke

Secretary General of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha (SDMS) Satnarayan Maharaj suffered a stroke at his home in Champs Fleurs on Thursday night.

Up to yesterday, he was warded at the intensive care unit of the Medical Associates Private Hospital in Montrose, Chaguanas.

Only a day before he collapsed, Maharaj had attended the Maha Sabha’s monthly meeting at its headquarters in St Augustine where he was said to be in high spirits. There were reports reaching Newsday that 88-year-old Maharaj suffered a collapsed lung after the stroke but this could not be confirmed.

Contacted for comment yesterday, former Maha Sabha executive member Devant Maharaj said, “everyone is concerned for Mr Maharaj’s well-being.”

“Mr Maharaj has made a significant contribution to the development of Trinidad and Tobago. This is a person who has a matter in the court on the sedition act so he continues to be part of the development of the country. His life has had a lot of high points and he endured many struggles. The SDMS has gotten to the point it did today in no small part through the sheer will of that one man, Sat Maharaj.”

The Maha Sabha is recognised as the largest Hindu organisation in the country and under Maharaj, it has grown over the decades to one where it now operates 150 mandirs and over 50 schools.