By IANS,
New Delhi : Myanmar’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi Wednesday struck an instant chord with the high-profile gathering at the Nehru Memorial Lecture here while giving an emotional recount of her struggle.
Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, who is also chairperson of the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund, had invited Suu Kyi for the lecture.
Suu Kyi was applauded for her speech as she recounted episodes of her childhood in India, as a student at the Oxford University in Britain and later her struggle for democracy and house arrest. She recalled how she drew inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru and India’s freedom struggle.
Welcoming Suu Kyi, Sonia Gandhi recalled that Suu Kyi and her mother, then Burma’s ambassador to India, lived at 24 Akbar Road, which is now the headquarters of the Congress party.
“This is like a homecoming for you,” said Sonia Gandhi.
Suu Kyi expressed hope that the people of India would support her struggle.
Karan Singh, Congress leader and member of the Nehru Memorial Fund, assured Suu Kyi that the spiritual energy of India was with her.
Vice President Hamid Ansari released a book written by Suu Kyi.
Besides a large Myanmarese delegation, many students also lined up to hear the leader.
The 67-year-old Nobel laureate is in India on a visit that ends Nov 18.