Shwe, who heads the military junta that has ruled Burma for nearly five decades, began his tour at Bodh Gaya, in Bihar, east India, one of the world's most important sites of Buddhist pilgrimage. He then went to several Buddhist temples in Kushinagar.
Burmese government sources were quoted by Indian media as describing the trip as "religious in nature". Shwe is expected to hold talks with the Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, and other senior political leaders on Tuesday in Delhi before signing agreements on economic cooperation, drug smuggling and terrorist activities across the India-Burma border.
Observers say being seen with Singh is a big boost for Shwe ahead of the elections, but critics have dismissed the poll, the first since 1990, as a sham designed to allow a transition of power to a new generation of military leaders.
The party of democracy campaigner and Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi is boycotting the poll as its rules appear to have been written to exclude her. The results of the 1990 elections, which Suu Kyi's party won, were ignored by the junta.
In Gaya, Shwe was greeted by activists with posters accusing him of crimes against humanity. Scores of pro-democracy campaigners demonstrated in New Delhi. "It is a great shame for the Indian government to welcome [a man] famous for his criminal acts under international law and his repression of democracy," Thin Thin Aung, of the Women's League of Burma, told the Guardian.
Shwe, 77, has been accused of masterminding the ruthless crushing of a pro-democracy "Saffron revolution" led by monks in 2007, the exploitation of forced labour, and a systematic repression of basic human rights on a daily basis.
India once supported the democratic movement in Burma, which the ruling military authorities call Myanmar, but has more recently worked to establish economic and military ties with the ruling generals. Indian officials argue that engagement is a better approach than sanctions.
During his tour Shwe will visit Hyderabad, the Indian information technology hub, and manufacturing plants.
The Indian invitation is in part motivated by fierce regional competition for influence. The visit comes just a month after China's premier, Wen Jiabao, went to Rangoon, the Burmese capital, to sign a range of economic deals.
"A lot of the western countries would rather India had nothing to do with Myanmar but it is a neighbouring country where the Chinese have made a significant investment and there are clear security imperatives for India," said Rukmani Gupta, of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis in Delhi.
One fear is of Chinese access to naval facilities in Burma, Gupta said.
India is also a big fuel importer and it is keen to secure its neighbour's natural gas resources.
However Khin Maung Win, deputy director of the Democratic Voice of Burma, an opposition newspaper based in Norway, said that India's Burma policy could not last. "Generations of Indian leaders made sure the biggest democracy in the world remained a long-standing friend of democracy in Burma. This current Indian policy is not based on principles but on short-term interests and compromise, and so is not durable."
Last week, the US state department said it hoped India would press Burma over democratic reform, engaging the opposition and other ethnic groups in the country. "We would encourage India and other countries to send a clear message to Burma that it needs to change its course," said Philip Crowley, a state department spokesman
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/25/burma-india-tour-than-shwe
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