Media Baron Ramoji Rao is turning 87 years old today. Ramoji Rao who hails from an ordinary agricultural family is the symbol of perseverance and entrepreneurship. He is into Margadarsi Chit Fund, Eenadu newspaper, ETV Network, Ramadevi Public School, Priya Foods, Kalanjali, Ushakiran Movies, Ramoji Film City, and Dolphin Group of Hotels – all of them are so successful.
Ramoji Rao left an indelible mark on Telugu history with the Eenadu Newspaper. No, Newspapers in the country may have influenced the public and Telugu politics as much as Eenadu. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second-highest civilian honor, for his contributions to journalism, literature, and education.
At the fag end of his life, there is an assault on his image by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. We have seen Jagan and Undavalli Arun Kumar trying to attack his financial roots and bring the Eenadu group to its knees.
The other day, Telangana IT Minister KTR also revealed that Jagan sought the Telangana Government’s cooperation to arrest Ramoji Rao but KCR did not agree.
Also, there is a coordinated attack assassinating Ramoji Rao’s Character using Social media and Sakshi to portray him as Casteist and favorable to the Telugu Desam Party.
But the history says otherwise about Ramoji Rao.
Ramoji Rao was named Cherukuri Ramayya Chowdary by his parents. But he relinquished the name and caste identity due to his Communist ideology and renamed himself as Ramoji Rao.
Ramoji Rao is not someone who leans towards any party.
Ramoji Rao played Opposition to NT Ramarao, Chandrababu Naidu, and YSR when they were in power. It was he who gave extensive coverage to NT Ramarao’s sensation with the TDP and it was he who opposed Lakshmi Parvathi becoming extra-constitutional influence over the CMO then.
Ramoji Rao’s Eenadu mirrored Chandrababu’s IT revolution in Hyderabad and he also flayed the same government agreeing to World Bank’s conditions in many things.
It was Eenadu that gave maximum coverage to Late YSR’s Padayatra in 2004. There used to be a main page coverage with YSR’s photo and with the details of the previous day’s Padayatra. The same Eenadu unearthed the corruption that happened during that and Jagan is facing CBI and ED cases due to that.
At 87 years old, Ramoji Rao has the best of the best relations with Delhi and is a potential contender for Bharat Ratna in the future.
He could have easily cut a deal with Jagan Mohan Reddy and enjoyed his retirement as well as expanded his business empire. We have seen how the Government chose to leak the pictures of a bed-ridden Ramoji Rao to humiliate him.
But Ramoji Rao despite battling several age-related ailments chose to be a fighter as he is known all his life. Despite the continuous onslaught on Margadarshi in the name of CID raids and Court cases, Eenadu did not bat an eyelid and did not hold back a word in exposing the Government’s failures.
ETV is a mirror of Ramoji Rao. The Channel is not into sensationalism like TV9 or NTV and is only into delivering quality News. Even if that comes at the cost of missing out on the TRP race and Ads, Ramoji Rao would not mind. That’s his way of upholding journalism values and he does that in his own way.
Similarly, Ramoji Rao – the Fighter never refused to fight to keep Eenadu as the Beacon of Truth. The Telugu people also reciprocate that by standing with him always. Just imagine the Government doing a Goebbels campaign about Margadarshi collapsing and not even a single subscriber protesting to give his money back.
Ramoji Rao is the Phenomenon India has never witnessed and it may not witness one like him in the future as well.
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