US faith leaders say they were misled into RSS event
Christian minister and Muslim imam repudiated their appearances alongside Hindu supremacist RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, saying organizers concealed his involvement
NEW YORK (MNTV) — Two prominent U.S. religious leaders have publicly repudiated their participation in an interfaith event featuring Hindu supremacist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat, saying organizers concealed his involvement and left them vulnerable to being portrayed as endorsing the RSS and its Hindu nationalist ideology.
Rev. Adriene Thorne, senior minister of New York’s Riverside Church, and Imam Shamsi Ali, a New York-based Muslim and interfaith leader, said they were invited to what was presented as an interfaith gathering promoting peace and religious cooperation but were not informed that Bhagwat would be its central figure.
Their denunciations followed Bhagwat’s appearance before thousands of Hindu Americans and non-resident Indians at New York’s Madison Square Garden on Saturday during an event titled “One World One Humanity.”
His U.S. appearances have drawn opposition from activists critical of the RSS, the ideological parent of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
Thorne said organizers had “withheld critical information” about Bhagwat and the RSS and that she would not have participated had she known the nature of the event.
“The RSS has been widely documented for its role in violence and discrimination against religious minorities in India, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Dalits, and others,” Thorne said in a video statement Wednesday.
She rejected any suggestion that appearing at the gathering amounted to support for the RSS or Hindu nationalism.
“I reject Hindu supremacy just as I reject Christian supremacy, Muslim supremacy, Jewish supremacy, racism, and every ideology that elevates one community over another,” she said.
Thorne said she stood with people in India who had experienced discrimination or violence because of religion, caste or identity and expressed concern that photographs from the gathering could be used to imply support from her or Riverside Church.
“My appearance should not have happened. I was misled,” she said.
Ali separately said he felt “deceived and entrapped” after attending part of the gathering, saying neither his discussions with organizers nor his invitation disclosed that Bhagwat would be the central guest.
“Had I known the event was organized to honor Mohan Bhagwat, I would have declined immediately,” Ali said.
He described his participation as a “serious error in judgment” and said that after discovering the gathering’s “true nature,” he refused to attend its continuation at Madison Square Garden.
Ali also dismissed Bhagwat’s remarks about peace as “lip service,” arguing they contradicted the experience of minorities in India, where he said Muslims and others face discrimination and violence resulting from the ideology promoted by the RSS.
Founded in 1925, the RSS advocates Hindutva, is a right-wing political ideology that defines Indian national identity in terms of supremacy of Hindu culture and civilization.
In contemporary India, its primary goal is to reshape the country from a secular, constitutional republic into an ethno-nationalist state known as a Hindu Rashtra.
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