Zohran Mamdani vs RSS, Why Mohan Bhagwat’s New York event is under fire.jpg

He said on Tuesday (August 25) that he did not support the event planned for August 29, while also saying he was unsure whether the city had the legal power to cancel a private programme.

Titled ‘Universal Oneness Celebration’, the event is being organised by the American Hindus for Engagement and Dialogue. Around 5,000 Indian Americans are expected to attend as part of the RSS's worldwide outreach programme marking its centenary year.

Speaking to reporters, Mamdani said, “I do not support this rally, but I do not know whether the city has the authority to cancel a private event.”

His comments came as left-wing and liberal groups in New York called for the programme to be cancelled.

Mamdani is the son of Indian-origin American parents and is New York's first Muslim mayor. Speaking about the event, he said his family had taught him to see India as a pluralistic society and secular republic where everyone should have a place.

He said the growth of a movement based on exclusion was very troubling to him.

The comments prompted strong reactions in India. RSS all-India publicity chief Sunil Ambekar responded to Mamdani without naming him directly.

He said the ‘Universal Oneness Celebration’ is an example of an interfaith event where Bhagwat will interact with people from diverse, multicultural and different religious backgrounds.

He described the programme as an effort based on open dialogue and mutual respect and said it represents an Indian way of life that is fundamentally inclusive and welcoming.

Ambekar also said the event is part of the RSS's long-running tradition of engaging with communities in India and around the world. According to him, the purpose is to encourage mutual understanding and shared goals.

He invited people interested in understanding the RSS's ideology and views to attend its open dialogue programmes.

Bhagwat's New York appearance is the first stop in his three-country tour marking 100 years of the RSS. The proposed address has got support and opposition from different sections of the Indian-American community.

According to American Hindus for Engagement and Dialogue, more than 200 Hindu-American organisations support the ‘Universal Oneness Celebration’. A separate coalition of 61 civil rights, religious and community organisations has called for the event to be cancelled at Madison Square Garden.

Former Seattle City Council member and noted socialist Kshama Sawant described Bhagwat as one of India's “most prominent and dangerous” right-wing Hindu nationalist leaders and urged Mamdani to cancel the programme.

African-American singer Mary Millben, who has frequently performed India's national anthem at public events, criticised the mayor in response. She accused him and “these socialist radicals” of opposing the event because of their opposition to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

She also said Madison Square Garden is “not accountable to socialist statements” and told Mamdani and his supporters to become capitalists, raise the money and rent the venue themselves.

Hindus for Human Rights Deputy Executive Director Sravya Tadepalli also criticised the event. She said, “Mohan Bhagwat does not represent Hindus. He leads a radical Hindu nationalist movement that has promoted violence, exclusion and fear among minority communities.”

She said New York should not give the RSS a platform to present religious nationalism as unity. She said her organisation will gather at City Hall to defend India's pluralist tradition, where a person's faith should not determine whether they belong to the country or have a claim to political power.

In India, BJP MP Bhola Singh called Mamdani's assessment incorrect and baseless. “The RSS has been continuously involved in social service and nation-building work for a long time,” he said.

BJP spokesperson Syed Zafar Islam described the mayor's remarks as divisive.

Why RSS has faced criticism in US

The RSS has faced criticism in the United States for years, with opponents accusing the organisation of promoting hostility towards minority communities. The US Commission on International Religious Freedom has recently recommended that the US government impose a targeted ban on the orgnisation.

American diplomats and political leaders have also met RSS representatives during visits to India and the United States over the years.

During the Obama administration in 2015, the US government opposed a legal effort seeking to force the State Department to designate the RSS as a foreign terrorist organisation. The administration told a US court that, as a practical matter, it did not consider the RSS a terrorist organisation, while asking for more time to finalise its position in response to a lawsuit filed by a Sikh separatist organisation.

The lawsuit was filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York by Sikhs for Justice, which sought to have the RSS designated a “foreign terrorist organisation” under US law. The group alleged that the RSS followed a “fascist ideology”.

RSS senior leader Ram Madhav and General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale also visited the United States in April and met think tanks, academics and policy experts.

Edward Anderson, an expert on Hindu nationalism and the Indian diaspora, told Middle East Eye that seeing the RSS chief as the main speaker at a major New York event may appear unusual to some, but the organisation has been trying to build support among Indian diaspora communities around the world since the early years after India's independence.

He also said the choice of venue serves another purpose. “It demonstrates their strength and success, which is tied to their narrative of pride and assertiveness. Importantly, it helps generate images and material that can be sent back to India,” he said.

The Madison Square Garden also has a connection with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In September 2014, only a few months after becoming the prime minister, he addressed a crowd of around 18,000 people at the venue.

Speaking to the packed audience at the time, he said, “I will build the India of your dreams.”