New Delhi, November 14
As New Delhi pulled out all the stops to accord her a warm welcome, Myanmar’s pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi today made an emotional appeal to the people of India to support the democratic movement in her country so that it could be taken to its logical conclusion.

“I was saddened that India moved away from us during our struggle for democracy,’’ she said delivering the Nehru Memorial Lecture to an august gathering at the Vigyan Bhavan this evening.

Underlining that Mahatma Gandhi and Pt Jawaharlal Nehru were the two Indian leaders she felt the closest to, Suu Kyi referred to the generally-held view that India had not stood staunchly by democratic forces in Myanmar during the prolonged military rule. “However, I have always held the view that expectation is not something one can indulge in...disappointment is not something one can indulge in.”

She made it clear that what mattered to her most was the friendship between the people and not the governments. “Governments come and go and that’s what democracy is all about. As long as people remain with each other, the friendship will last,” she added.

Noting that her country had still not attained the goal of complete democracy, the Myanmar leader said, “I hope in this last and most difficult phase of our struggle, the people of India will stand by us and help us achieve what they have achieved.”

Her visit comes two years after elections in Myanmar that formally ended the military rule. A new nominally civilian government, led by President Thein Sein, took office in 2011 and has since implemented a series of economic and political reforms, which have been appreciated by the global community. Suu Kyi, who spent many years under house arrest, was released shortly after the November 2010 polls. Her party, the National league for Democracy, has now joined the political process and won a small presence in Parliament in the by-elections held in April this year.

During his visit to Myanmar this May, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had met Suu Kyi and also invited her to visit India to personally receive the Jawaharlal Nehru Award, bestowed on her in 1993 at the height of the pro-democracy movement in her country.

Suu Kyi’s six-day trip to India, which began yesterday, had all the trappings of a state visit as she met the PM and Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai. She will meet Vice-President Hamid Ansari, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid and Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, among other Indian leaders, tomorrow.

She will visit also her alma mater, Lady Shri Ram College in Delhi, where she will interact with the faculty and students. She had spent several years in India during her early days when her mother Daw Khin Yi was the Ambassador to India.

During her 30-minute meeting with the Indian PM, Suu Kyi discussed the process of national reconciliation and democratisation in her country. “Our good wishes are with you as indeed with your struggle for democracy. We admire you for the indomitable courage you have shown,’’ Manmohan Singh said while welcoming her at his residence.

The two leaders also called for greater people-to-people contacts between their two countries, including between Parliament and judicial bodies.