Nearly 50 years after graduating from Delhi University’s Lady Shri Ram (LSR) College, Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will be felicitated by her alma mater on Friday, during her visit to the country.
A cultural programme has been planned in the college for her visit. “Students are very excited. They are working very hard for the programme. College alumni have also got souvenirs for her,” Kanika Khandelwal, spokesperson of LSR College said.
While a two-hour programme has been planned, college officials said they were not sure if Suu Kyi will sit through it. The college authorities, on the other hand, are awaiting confirmation from their alumni. “One of Suu Kyi’s political science teachers, Nirmala Khanna, will be present on Friday. Her classmate Malavika Karlekar is also expected to attend,” Meenakshi Bahuja, the coordinator for alumni affairs at the college, said.
Born in Rangoon in 1945, Suu Kyi is the third child of Aung San, commander of the Burma Independence Army, and Ma Khin Kyi, then a senior nurse at Rangoon General Hospital.
Following her father’s assassination in 1947, Khin Kyi headed the social planning and social policy bodies. After her mother was appointed the Ambassador of India in 1960, Suu Kyi studied in Delhi from 1960 to ’64. A student of political science at LSR College, she later studied philosophy, politics and economics in Oxford University.
Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 “for her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights”. A pro-democracy leader, Suu Kyi spent more than 15 years in detention, mostly under house arrest. She was released in November 2010.