| Cho Ramaswamy | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 5, 1934 Mylapore, madras presidency, British India |
| Occupation | Actor, politician, journalist, lawyer |
| Family | Father: R. Srinivasa Iyer Mother: Rajammal |
| Notable credit(s) | Thuglak |
Srinivasa Iyer Ramaswamy, also known as Cho Ramaswamy (Tamil: சோ ராமசாமி, born October 5, 1934) is a comedian, playwright, lawyer and columnist in Tamil Nadu, India. He is the editor of the popular Tamil magazine Thuglak. Cho, as he is popularly known is well known for his witty take on Indian and Tamil Nadu politics.
Contents |
Ramaswamy started the magazine Thuglak in 1970. Based on the political satire of the ruling State and the central governments, Thuglak today is a weekly magazine.
Ramaswamy used political satire to convey his message to the masses through his plays. Mohammed Bin Thuglak is perhaps his most famous political satire and same was staged for more than 1000 times to packed halls and auditorium. In this play Ramaswamy aims to bring out what he sees as the hypocrisy and duplicity of politicians. The soundtrack of the play was played throughout Tamil Nadu by the congress party in its campaign against Congress. Almost every other play of Ramaswamy aims to bring out human hypocrisy in a satirical manner. In this sense Ramaswamy followed in the footsteps of Bernard Shaw.
In his journalism, Ramaswamy was critical of the Emergency decree of Indira Gandhi. He was also critical of the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh over his attitude towards Pakistan, and was critical of the LTTE in the face of threat to his life. Perhaps he is one of the very few Indian journalists who took a bold stand for Israel in its war against Arab inspired terrorism.
CHO Ramaswamy played a significant role in bringing an alliance between Vijaykant and Jayalalitha. He made a plea to the electorate of Tamil Nadu to vote for the Jayalalitha's alliance which was telecast repeatedly in the Jaya TV.
Some used to criticize Ramaswamy as non-neutral journalist with no proof.
He was instrumental in having an alliance between TMC (Tamil Maanila Congress) and DMK during 1996, as he criticized the AIADMK Supremo J.Jayalalithaa, the then chief Minister of Tamil Nadu during 1991-96. On the other hand, in 2011 elections, because of exorbitant and unprecedented scam (2G) and family Raj of M.Karunanidhi, he advocated AIADMK is the only feasible alternative to avoid vote split.
When a video was released showing Vijayakanth beating up his party candidate in full public view, Ramaswamy made very light of it and found no fault in it and further commented that the people will not take it 'seriously'.[1]
He was nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the then President of India, K. R. Narayanan. In the Rajya Sabha 12 M.P.s are nominated by the President of India from amongst persons who have special knowledge or practical experience in the fields of literature, science, art or social service. He served as a Rajya Sabha MP from November 1999 to November 2005.