JOIN US“My name is Aung San Suu Kyi. It means a bright collection of strange victories and I wish that the women of the colony named after me have all the success in life,” said Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Saturday, at a SC/ST colony named after her at Papasanipalli village in Anantapur district.
“However, victory does not come by itself. You have to work hard for it,” she told the women of the self-help groups. Andhra Pradesh Revenue Minister N Raghuveera Reddy, who translated Suu Kyi’s remarks in Telugu, encouraged villagers to take inspiration from her life.
“She spent 25 years in jail for the sake of democracy,” the minister told the gathering. Suu Kyi, accompanied by Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, visited a few villages in the Madakasira constituency to study the socio-economic transformation of villagers, brought about by various government welfare schemes. The Nobel laureate arrived at the Kothulagutta village from Bangalore in a helicopter around 9:30 am. Suu Kyi then attended a power point presentation on rural development in the state and the impact of welfare schemes implemented by the Central and state governments. She later travelled by road to Govindapuram village and interacted with people working under MGNREGS, the government’s flagship rural job scheme.
Suu Kyi also visited the Papasanipalli village and interacted with local women to gain first hand knowledge of how the self-help groups have transformed their lives. She rested for a while at the house of Muddamma, a member of a self-help group, before leaving for Bangalore. The women presented her a Dharmavaram silk saree.