(Minghui.org) Every year during India’s Republic Day (January 26), and Independence Day (August 15) a flower show is held in Lalbagh Botanical Garden, Bangalore. This year was the 213th flower show and the ten day event’s theme was “Bengaluru’s History & Evolution.” Falun Dafa practitioners were invited to participate.
An iconic building in Bangalore was decorated with flowers during the flower show
A visitor is taught the exercises at the Falun Dafa booth.
In addition to the floral creations, an array of 125 booths was put up, and approximately 300,000 people attended the event. Practitioners also had a booth where they demonstrated the exercises, distributed fliers, and told people about the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) 23-year-long ongoing persecution of Falun Dafa in China.
One major highlight provided by the Falun Dafa group was a 13 foot high grass and floral mural with the words, “The World Needs: Truth, Compassion, Tolerance,” in English and “Falun Dafa: Truth, Compassion, and Tolerance” in the local language.
Practitioners meditate and demonstrate the exercises near the booth
During the course of 10 days, various people from different walks of life expressed an interest in learning more about Falun Dafa. Many of them were hearing about the spiritual discipline for the first time, while others heard about it while visiting other countries.
Ratikanta Panda, a visitor originally from the eastern Indian state of Odisha and currently works in Bangalore said, “I never heard about Falun Dafa before. It’s so beautiful. I would like to practice it.”
Many schoolchildren were also drawn to the practice and imitated practitioners while they did the five exercises.
Children learn the first exercise with a practitioner
One family noticed practitioners walking by in yellow T-shirts and asked about the practice. They then learned the first exercise and said that they could feel a strong energy field.
Many passersby were shocked to learn about the persecution of practitioners in China. Ratikanta said he felt sad that people who abide by the principles of truth, compassion, and tolerance were being tortured.
Preksha and Shruthi, two design students who read the information about the CCP’s persecution, said they found it disturbingly ironic that such a peaceful practice was being persecuted. After learning about China’s multi-billion dollar organ harvesting industry, Preksha said that she had watched a video interview of a Uighur refugee and former surgeon, Enver Tohti, so she knew about the organ harvesting crimes of the Chinese communist regime .
A woman who runs a school and teaches journalism was interested in learning more about the persecution and how to create more awareness of the crimes against humanity. She said she would ask her students to write about Falun Dafa.
Jagadish, the joint Director of the Horticulture Department of Lalbagh visited the Falun Dafa booth with his family and said that he was moved upon seeing practitioners’ dedication over the course of ten days.
Jagadish, the joint Director of the Horticulture Department of Lalbagh, and his family take a photo with Falun Dafa practitioners.
Practitioners participated in the flower show for the last few years. This year, hoping to let more people know about the practice, practitioners asked the deputy director of the horticulture department if they could set up a floral mural with the message: Truth, Compassion, and Tolerance written on it and she agreed. But since the layout of the show had already been planned, it wasn’t very easy to find room for it. However, the day before the show began practitioners were able to get the mural put up in a prominent location.
Practitioners displayed a mural with the words: “The World needs Truth, Compassion and Tolerance”
Many passersby were attracted to the large mural and took pictures of it and with it. A signboard card with the website and QR code scan was also placed in a prominent way so that those interested could get more information.
Background: What Is Falun Dafa and Why Is the CCP Persecuting It?
Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong) was first introduced to the public by Mr. Li Hongzhi in Changchun, China, in 1992. The spiritual discipline is now practiced in over 100 countries and regions worldwide. Millions of people who have embraced the teachings, which are based on the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance, and have learned the five exercises, have experienced improved health and well-being.
Jiang Zemin, former head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), perceived the spiritual discipline’s growing popularity as a threat to the CCP’s atheistic ideology and on July 20, 1999, he issued an order to eradicate the practice.
Under Jiang’s personal direction, the CCP established the 610 Office, an extralegal security organization with the power to override the police and judicial systems and whose sole function is to carry out the persecution of Falun Dafa.
Minghui.org has confirmed the deaths of thousands of practitioners as a result of the persecution over the past 24 years. The actual number is believed to be much higher. Countless practitioners have been imprisoned and tortured for their faith.
There is concrete evidence that the CCP sanctions the harvesting of organs from detained practitioners, who are murdered to supply China’s organ transplant industry.
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