Dictator’s tour group arrives at five-star hotel in New Delhi

Monday, 26 July 2010 23:03 Mizzima News

New Delhi (Mizzima) – Burmese junta leader Senior General Than Shwe and his entourage arrived at the five-star luxury ITC Maurya Hotel in New Delhi last night at about 6:50 p.m., according to a manager at the hotel, on their five-day official visit to India which started on Sunday.

The dictator’s delegation of more than 80-members includes junta ministers and their wives, on Sunday and yesterday took in holy sites – Bodhgaya in Bihar State, where Buddha had achieved enlightenment under the Bodhi tree, and Varanasi in the state of Uttar Pradesh, where Buddha gave his first sermon – before flying to the Indian capital.

“They arrived at our hotel this evening at about 6:50 p.m. Their delegation has more than 80 members”, a senior manager at the hotel in New Delhi told Mizzima.

The hotel has five-star facilities and is situated in the Sardar Patel Marg district of New Delhi.

The senior general had offered Wazo robes, eight prescribed articles for monks and cash to 27 abbots at a Burmese monastery in Bodhgaya yesterday morning. He also donated US$2,200 to abbots invited from Burmese monasteries in Rajgir, Savrasati, Varanasi and Kolkata.

“I think he spent a lot of time in Bodhgaya to earn merit and this is the main purpose of this visit especially at the time of his twilight years, so he came here to offer meritorious deeds during his last days, for his afterlife”, a Burmese monk who is studying in Bodhgaya told Mizzima.

The entourage stayed at the three-star Royal Residency hotel near the Bodhgaya international airport. “They checked in to our hotel at about 10:30 a.m. yesterday [Sunday] and checked out today [Monday] at about 12:45 p.m. The total number of guests in their team is 84”, a senior hotel manager said.

Than Shwe was scheduled to meet Indian President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh today, a high-level official from the Indian foreign ministry told Mizzima.

The entourage will also fly early tomorrow morning to Hyderabad in the state of Andhra Pradesh, where India’s biggest industrial company, the Tata Group, is based.