[2] Virahsawmy was born in Quartier-Militaire, Mauritius on 16 March 1942 to Appanah "Ramdass" Virah Sawmy and Damiyantee "Gouna" Pyndiah.
[3][4] He spent his early childhood in Goodlands, where he lost the use of his left arm due to polio and after the death of his mother he went to live with his grandparents at Beau-Bassin.
[9] On 22 September 1970, he became the first member of the MMM to be elected to the Legislative Assembly by winning the vacant seat at by-elections held in Constituency No.
However, Paul Bérenger disagreed with Virahsawmy's analysis and instead started to dream about the MMM's future electoral victories nationwide, especially by the aggressive application of identity politics.
[10] Throughout the year 1971 the MMM worked closely with trade unions to ramp up its campaign of nationwide strikes, violent thugs of the PMSD attacked Virahsawmy's house with Molotov cocktails.
[11] In early 1972 Virahsawmy was jailed at the National Intelligence Unit (NIU)'s political prison within the Police compounds of Line Barracks in Port Louis for refusing to pay a fine for "contempt of court" after making public comments regarding the Labour-PMSD-CAM regime's handling of strike actions.
[13][14] With the help of Peter Craig, Alan Ganoo, Alain Laridon and Showkutally Soodhun, Virahsawmy founded the trade union movement called Federation Des Travailleurs Unis (FTU) to assist textile workers to bargain for higher wages and better working conditions.