I feel myself partly a citizen of India: Suu Kyi

Nov 16, 2012 |

IANS

New Delhi

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Myanmar's iconic pro-democracy leader Aung Sang Suu Kyi Friday said she felt that she was 'partly a citizen of India'.

"I feel myself partly a citizen of India", said Suu Kyi while being felicitated at the Lady Shri Ram College here.

Suu Kyi had studied political science in the college in the 1960s.

"I always knew I would come back to this hall where I had learned to sing one of Gandhi's favourite songs - 'Raghupati Raghava Raja Ram'. I feel myself partly a citizen of India," she said.

The Nobel laureate, who spent her childhood and early adolescence in New Delhi while her mother served as Burma's envoy to India, returned here on a six-day visit, during which she is to meet India's leaders as well as friends from her school and college days.

"Coming back to LSR is not just coming back home, it is coming back to a place where I know my aspirations have not been wrong. I have learnt that my faith in the oneness of human aspirations is justified. I'm coming to a place where I can feel that my hopes have not been in vain," she said.

The charismatic leader, who spent decades under house arrest and is known for her heroic struggle against the all-powerful military junta in Myanmar, spoke about principles in politics.

"Principles must always exist in politics. Unprincipled politics is the most dangerous thing in the world. If you compromise on your principles, I think you'd better stop engaging in politics," she said.

Suu Kyi, who battled the Myanmar military junta, did her schooling here at the Convent of Jesus and Mary before joining LSR, one of Delhi's most reputed women's colleges.

For higher education, she moved to St. Hugh's College, Oxford University. She was also a Fellow for two years, along with her late husband Michael Aris, at the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla.

Over the years, she came to be influenced by Mahatma Gandhi and Buddhist thoughts.

Suu Kyi's six-day visit to India ends Sunday.

She is also set to visit Bangalore and two villages in Andhra Pradesh to study women's empowerment and development models.

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