On Sunday mornings in Bengaluru, people have encountered Falun Dafa in circumstances far removed from international politics.
At The Times of India’s Happy Streets initiative in Malleswaram, children played, residents joined Zumba sessions, artists demonstrated their work and a group of practitioners introduced visitors to Falun Dafa meditation. Times of India
At another Happy Streets edition in Whitefield, TOI reported that a school student joined a Falun Dafa session before returning home to prepare for an exam. Times of India
And as recently as July 2026, TOI again reported Falun Dafa introducing visitors to meditation and wellness practices at its Whitefield event. Times of India
There is nothing unusual about Indians exploring a meditation practice.
What is unusual is that this particular practice has been the subject of one of the Chinese Communist Party’s longest-running suppression campaigns.
What is Falun Dafa?
Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, combines meditation and five exercises with teachings centred on Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance.
Freedom House describes it as a spiritual practice that spread rapidly in China during the 1990s through volunteer-run practice sites and without formal membership. Freedom House
Indian journalism has encountered it directly for years.
In a 2008 Mumbai feature, The Times of India described Falun Gong as a spiritual practice composed of five meditative exercises and the principles of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance. The article reported local practitioners teaching the exercises free of charge. Times of India
At Mumbai’s Equal Streets initiative in 2015, TOI again reported Falun Dafa practitioners teaching visitors the basics of the spiritual discipline in a public street setting. Times of India
These accounts are useful because they give Indian readers an opportunity to encounter Falun Dafa through Indian observation rather than through either practitioners’ promotional material or the Chinese government’s description.
The same practice has a radically different status in China
The CCP began its nationwide campaign against Falun Gong in July 1999.
Freedom House documents mass detention, imprisonment, torture, censorship and propaganda as elements of that campaign.
The Congressional-Executive Commission on China documented an organised system involving “610” offices that tracked practitioners and oversaw efforts to detain and ideologically “transform” them. CECC records also describe official propaganda campaigns portraying Falun Gong as dangerous or “anti-social.” CECC
This propaganda history is important.
A person who first searches for Falun Gong online may encounter extremely hostile descriptions that originated in, or were amplified by, a government that had already decided to eliminate the practice.
That does not mean every criticism of Falun Gong is false or politically motivated.
It means readers deserve to know the origin of the competing narratives.
India offers a simple alternative: look for yourself
This may be where the Indian story becomes most interesting.
In Bengaluru, Mumbai and other cities, Falun Dafa is not an abstraction.
Indians can observe the exercises.
They can speak directly to practitioners.
They can read its teachings.
They can ask difficult questions.
They can decide whether they like it, dislike it or remain indifferent.
That freedom to investigate for oneself is precisely what makes a democratic information environment different from a censored one.
Why should Beijing’s judgment determine India’s?
The question has become timely because ThePrint reported that Chinese Embassy officials raised concerns about Falun Gong-linked media gaining access during the BRICS summit and potentially questioning the Chinese delegation. ThePrint
Outlook also reported Beijing’s position that it opposes Falun Gong-linked activities that it sees as threatening Chinese sovereignty or territorial integrity. Outlook India
China is entitled to explain why it banned the practice.
Practitioners are entitled to explain why they believe the persecution is unjust.
Indian journalists are entitled to examine both.
But there is a third constituency whose perspective is easily forgotten:
Indians themselves.
The Falun Dafa they encounter at a Bengaluru neighbourhood festival is not merely the object described in Chinese political documents.
It consists of actual people practising openly under Indian law.
That creates a simple journalistic opportunity.
Visit a practice site.
Speak to participants.
Ask how long they have practised.
Ask whether money is charged.
Read independent human-rights documentation about what happened in China.
Ask the Chinese Embassy why the practice remains prohibited.
Ask practitioners about allegations made against them.
Then report what the evidence supports.
A local story with an international question
The contrast is difficult to miss:
In Bengaluru, The Times of India can invite Falun Dafa to a community event.
In China, the CCP has spent decades trying to eliminate the same practice.
Why?
That question can be investigated without asking readers to become Falun Gong practitioners.
It requires only curiosity.
Perhaps that is the most useful role Indian media can play.
Before accepting either Beijing’s description or practitioners’ description of Falun Dafa, meet the people practising it in India and investigate the history for yourself.