The visiting Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi today sought cooperation of Indian people in her fight for democracy in her country. Delivering the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Lecture in New Delhi this evening, she said friendship between the two countries should be based on friendship between the peoples rather than between just the governments.
She said governments come and go and that is democracy all about. In this context, Suu Kyi said that she was saddened to feel that Myanmar was drawn away from India rather than India had drawn away from Myanmar. Stating that Myanmar has not yet achieved the goal of democracy, she expressed the hope that the people of India will support them in its last difficult phase.
In her half-an-hour long lecture, the visiting dignitary recounted how she was inspired by the great Indian leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Nehru in her continued struggle.
Hailing Aung San Suu Kyi as one of the most remarkable figures of the present time, Congress President Sonia Gandhi today said her visit to India after a quarter of a century is something of a homecoming and an opportunity to renew links that go back to two generations.
Gandhi said that Suu Kyi’s vision of politics as an ethical calling has inspired people the world over.
Ms.Gandhi said that just like Nehru, the Burmese leader is a synthesis of the best of East and West, but rooted in her own country and its culture.She said,Indian people revere Suu Kyi for sacrifices she has made and recalled the warmth of relations between Nehru and her father, General Aung San adding they held each other in high esteem.
Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi will call on Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar in Parliament House on Thursday.
The two leaders are likely to share their experiences in democratic traditions and parliamentary practices and procedures, besides deliberating on the warm and cordial relations between India and Myanmar.
Mrs.Kumar, who has been emphasising the imperative of sharing India's parliamentary experience with other countries, had directed organising specialised capacity building programme for Myanmarese MPs and parliamentary officers.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had, during his visit to Myanmar in May 2012, assured his Myanmarese hosts that India would extend all possible support towards capacity-building in parliamentary practices and procedures for their Parliamentarians and parliamentary officials.
