New Delhi:
Myanmar's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi today said that she never felt "far away" from India and considered herself "partly a citizen of India". Addressing a packed gathering of students and teachers at her alma mater Lady Shri Ram College in New Delhi, Suu Kyi while reminiscing her stint at the famous institution, said that students should not to compromise on their "principles".
Here are the highlights of her speech:- I always knew I would come back to this hall where I had learned to sing one of Gandhi's favourite songs - Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram
- I feel myself partly a citizen of India
- Somewhere on this globe all the hopes and aspirations of young people everywhere are linked together
- The openness of youth, the generosity of youth, the tremendous warmth that comes from young hearts that have not yet learned to be bitter and resentful
- These hearts must carry us forward
- There is nothing that ages more than hatred or making yourself a complete hostage to the past and its bitter experiences
- Experiences are bitter or enlightening depending on how you interpret them
- Although we may seem alone, all over the world friends who we do not see are prepared to walk along
- 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
- This morning, within a period of 60 minutes - one hour, my faith in oneness of human aspirations is justified
- I'm coming to a place where I can feel that my hopes have not been in vain
- If you compromise on your principles, I think you'd better stop engaging in politics. Unprincipled politics is about the most dangerous things in the world. Principled politics is not easy - because principles can be interpreted as intransigence. Changing your life and decision in order that principles are not compromised, that is flexibility. Compromise should be made out of a sense of humility - doesn't mean we have to let go of our principles
- I hope that in Burma, we can build up the kind of democratic politics where opponents in democratic politics can be friends
- Some may think this is idealistic, this is an impossible dream
- I do not think any dream is impossible
- Working towards what you believe in is essential. If you are not prepared to work towards what you believe in, you'd better stop believing in it and start believing in something else
- India and I are linked to each other through an intelligent emotional bond
- We have not achieved democracy; we are trying to achieve democracy and in that we need your help
- Many things that you take for granted here, we are still struggling for that in Burma - young people in Burma do not know what campus life means
- They know what university means - there but it means going to classes, listening to lectures, and going home again. There is no life outside the classroom of Burmese universities
- We have to change this and we hope you will help us
- We do not want to be at the taking end all the time - we'd like to give but at this moment we are asking for your assistance
- I cannot say any one race or country has been more helpful to Burma than the other
- We have received help from all over the world - people who I would never have thought took an interest in what is happening in our country
- I have never felt far away from India
- Since I arrived here, I know that my faith in our friendship has been justified
- I hope this faith will be strengthened day to day, year to year as we walk the last mile to democracy