Suu Kyi Inspired By "Indian Freedom Struggle"

Bangalore: Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's pro-democracy leader visited Shantivan to pay tribute to India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and later delivered the Nehru Memorial Lecture on the occasion of his 123rd birth anniversary. The lecture was held at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on Wednesday evening. Suu Kyi is on a six-day visit, her first visit to India in over 40 years.

Speaking at the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Lecture she said, "I was saddened to feel that we were drawn away from India, or rather India was drawn away from us during our most difficult days."

In her 30-minute speech, Suu Kyi expressed her deep appreciation for the leaders of India, particularly Jawaharlal Nehru, for their "precious friendship".

She said referring to the trials and tribulations she had to face in the struggle for democracy in Myanmar "It was their life that helped me to find my way through the uncharted terrain," as reported by PTI.

Earlier, Congress President Sonia Gandhi had called Suu Kyi as the "most remarkable figures of our times" and described her visit to India as "something of a homecoming".

At the Nehru Memorial Lecture Suu Kyi shared tales of her troubles under Myanmar’s repressive military regime and described how her life in politics and ideas of nation-building were inspired by Nehru’s ideals.

Also Read: World's 5 Most Powerful Speeches