Wednesday
July 17, 2002 0830 IST
Sheela Bhatt in New Delhi
[...]
On the morning of July 13, 2002, regular walkers at New Delhi's Lodhi Garden were in for a surprise when two Chinese women in their thirties attracted their attention.
Janice C. and Diana W. were carrying the [truth clarification] material of Falun Gong. The two were from Singapore where they worked for an information technology company. They were in India on a mission close to their hearts.
"India is an open society. Indians are curious to know new things. We are already in more than [50] countries. We want Indians to know the virtues of Falun Gong, which is the fastest growing meditation practice all over the world," Janice told rediff.com
Insisting that Falun Gong [is good], she said, "It's a revived ancient tradition of meditation practices."
She added, "Our [practitioners] are not large enough in India but we are steadily growing."
In the last two years she has visited India ten times.[...]
Janice had also visited the Hanging Garden and Nana-Nani Park in Mumbai.
She claimed that Bangalore was very receptive of the "Chinese yoga", which included five easy-to-learn meditation practices to improve mental and physical health.
These exercises that espouse the principles of truthfulness, compassion and forbearance are distinct from Taoism and Buddhism.
In China, Falun Gong was re-introduced to the public in May 1992 by a man called Li Hongzhi, who now lives in the United States.
Li was extremely successful in China and in the last few years had been the target of the Jiang's government.
Janice also claimed that 600 professors from 21 countries had nominated Li for the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize.
The Chinese regime had treated Falun Gong as a threat to its internal security.
[...]
B Raman, a Chennai-based counter-terrorism expert said, "One has seen the brutal manner in which they [the Chinese government] have been treating the [practitioners] of the Falun Gong [group]. If one regularly visits the Web sites of Chinese think tanks, one would be struck by the number of articles seeking to demonize the Falun Gong and project its [practitioners] in the most negative colors."
Janice said, "Jiang's [...] government, which is officially atheist, is torturing our [practitioners], mainly women, because we are becoming more popular than communism itself. [...]"
Janice, an American citizen, said, "For us who are living in democratically elected governments, freedom of belief is fundamental. But Jiang's regime don't protect such human rights."
"Despite official suspicion of devotion to religion and spirituality, [the Chinese public's] faith in them is gathering strength even amongst young and educated people. One notices more young than grown-up people during visits to the Buddha temples in Shanghai," Raman said.
Janice was carrying with her a mobile office, which had DVD players, photographs and accounts of tortured women [practitioners] of Falun Gong around the world.
When asked if the Indian government would be uncomfortable if China objected to Falun Gong's spread in India, she said, "No. [...]They are very supportive of us."
[...]
But she insisted that she was very upbeat about India where people had tremendous interest in self-improvement.
Diana said, "In Lodhi Garden people asked us many questions and they showed warmth. They wanted to learn the exercises."
Janice added, "I believe through Falun Gong, Indians and Chinese can come
closer. Governments will come and go but people will survive. We believe India
will receive us with enthusiasm. We have ancient ties that can be revived
through Falun Gong."