Suu Kyi on trip to rebuild India ties

It will be a homecoming of sorts for Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi tomorrow as she begins a six-day visit to India, the country in which she studied for several years.

Suu Kyi will arrive in the world's biggest democracy on Deepavali, the festival celebrating the triumph of good over evil.

The visit is expected to bring back some happy memories as Suu Kyi rebuilds her ties with India.

She has said previously that India could have done more to support her fight for democracy.

"It is like old estranged friends meeting again. I think the basic takeaway is that if there is any rupture of ties between the government of India and Ms Suu Kyi, it will be cemented," said Professor S.D. Muni, a foreign policy expert and senior visiting scholar at the Delhi-based Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses.

"This is an emotional exercise, though I don't rule out the possibility of discussions on future democratic prospects. This visit is good for her and India since we have old ties."

On Wednesday, the Myanmar opposition leader will meet students and teachers at her alma mater, Lady Shri Ram College in New Delhi, from which she graduated in political science in 1964.

She is likely to call on Congress president Sonia Gandhi at her residence and may even pop into the neighbouring house, where she lived in the early 1960s when her mother was ambassador to India. The house - at 24 Akbar Road - is now the headquarters of the ruling Congress party.

The Nobel Peace laureate, who is respected around the world for her fight and personal sacrifice for democracy in Myanmar, spent a good part of her formative years studying in India.

She went to school at the Convent of Jesus and Mary school in Delhi. After graduating from Lady Shri Ram College, she left to take up further studies at Oxford University.

She returned to India in 1987, as a fellow at the Institute of Advanced Study, a research institute, in Shimla.

But her relationship with India has seen its share of ups and downs.

India was one of her biggest supporters in the early days of her pro-democracy struggle. But in the early 1990s, it reversed its opposition to the ruling junta in Myanmar as it became locked in a contest for influence with China.

India's need for energy, as well as the help of the junta to crack down on insurgents hiding in border areas in Myanmar, further shaped Indian policy, which included welcoming Myanmar's generals to India.

Suu Kyi, who spent 15 years in jail or under house arrest, has been quite vocal about wanting India to do more to promote democratic values in Myanmar. But in the past year, she has responded to reconciliatory moves by the Indian establishment. She met then Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, who was in Myanmar with then External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna in June last year, and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in May this year.

Suu Kyi's visit here is at the invitation of Mrs Gandhi, the widow of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. On Wednesday, she will deliver a lecture to mark the birth anniversary of India's first post-independence prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, a personal friend of her father's, the revered independence hero Aung San.

She will meet Dr Singh the same day. She will also travel to IT hub Bangalore to visit the campus of IT giant Infosys and the Indian Institute of Science. She will head to the district of Anantpur in southern Andhra Pradesh to see how women's empowerment programmes are undertaken in India.

"India has a special relationship with Myanmar and Aung San Suu Kyi as a person. And considering democracy is taking root (in Myanmar), it is very appropriate. Her delivering the Nehru memorial lecture is also full of symbolism, as Aung San and Nehru were close friends," said Mr C. Uday Bhaskar, a distinguished fellow with the Delhi-based think-tank, Society for Policy Studies.

"Her visit to India is long overdue."-Asia News Network (November 12, 2012)