Aung San Suu Kyi returns to India after almost 40 years

New Delhi: Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is arriving in India on Tuesday. This is the Nobel laureate's first visit to the country in 40 years. As India gears up to welcome her to the Delhi where she spent her youth, it also walks a tight rope on the diplomatic front.

Ambassador Ranjit Gupta IFS (Retd) said, "Suu Kyi felt what India had done turning around from phenomenal support to the democratic movement from 1988 to 1990 - and started engaging with the junta was not the right thing."

India need not be defensive about the choices it made, Myanmar is hardly the only dictatorship Delhi has done business with; additionally, India needed to counter china's growing influence. In due time Delhi hopes Suu Kyi will overcome her disappointment. As Myanmar transits to a democracy - its favourite daughter too is evolving.

Suu Kyi now does what politicians do - engage with all stake holders, earn criticism for her views and actions. A case in point - Suu Kyi has been panned recently for her perceived lack of support for Rohingya Muslims, brutally targeted by Buddhists.

“She has now come down from that hi perch and has had necessarily to soil her hands when you join the hurly burly of political daily life,” Gupta said.

Since the world's most prominent political prisoner was released from house arrest, she's led her party to a sweep of this year's recent by elections and is expected to win a landslide if a free and fair election is held in 2015.

As India rolls out the red carpet, through this week, for a probable future president of Myanmar, pragmatism seems to have scored once again.

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