India Archives - Falun Dafa Information Center

Beginning on January 26, 2023, Falun Dafa practitioners participated in the 213th annual flower show in Bangalore, India during India's Republic Day celebrations. The ten-day event, with the theme, “Bengaluru’s History & Evolution” featured a dazzling array of 125 booths, and attracted 300,000 visitors this year. Among the flower installation-arrangements at show, Falun Dafa practitioners displayed 13-foot-high floral mural with the words, “The World Needs: Truth, Compassion, Tolerance,” in English and “Falun Dafa: Truth, Compassion, and Tolerance” in the local Bangalore Kannada dialect. Practitioners also had a booth where they demonstrated the Falun Dafa exercises, distributed fliers, and told people about the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) ongoing persecution of the spiritual practice in China since 1999. During the event, various people from different walks of life expressed an interest in learning more about Falun Dafa. A visitor from the eastern Indian state of Odisha, who currently works in Bangalore, Ratikanta Panda said, “I never heard about Falun Dafa before. It’s so beautiful. I would like to practice it.” Some schoolchildren were also drawn to the practice and imitated practitioners doing the five exercises. A visitor is taught the exercises at the Falun Dafa booth. Children learn the first exercise with a practitioner. Falun Dafa practitioners meditate and demonstrate the exercises near the booth. Many passersby were shocked to learn about the persecution in China. One said he felt sad that people who abide by the principles of truth, compassion, and tolerance were being tortured. A design student, Preksha said that she had learned about the Chinese communist regime's multi-billion-dollar organ harvesting industry. She had watched a video interview of a Uighur refugee and former surgeon, Enver Tohti who was previously complicit in this crime against humanity and who has since been speaking out to help stop the persecution. A woman who runs a school and teaches journalism was interested in learning more about the persecution and in raising more awareness about the persecution. She said she would ask her students to write about Falun Dafa. (Pictured: Jagadish, the joint Director of the Horticulture Department of Lalbagh, and his family stop by the Falun Dafa booth and take a photo with volunteers.) The joint Director of the Horticulture Department of Lalbagh, Jagadish visited the Falun Dafa booth with his family and said that he was moved upon seeing practitioners’ dedication over the course of the ten-day event. Falun Dafa practitioners have participated in the flower show in Bangalore, India for the past few years. Based on an original report published in Minghui.org.