Bhagwat’s US visit draws scrutiny over RSS ideology, minority rights
Opposition from Muslim, Sikh, Hindu and interfaith groups highlights controversy over RSS ideology and its record on minorities in India
NEW YORK (MNTV) — The visit of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat to New York has drawn mounting opposition from elected officials, religious-freedom advocates and Muslim, Sikh, Hindu and interfaith organisations, turning a gathering billed as a celebration of “Universal Oneness” into a wider debate over Hindu nationalism, minority rights and the RSS’ role in India’s political order.
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he “does not support” the event, describing the RSS vision as exclusionary and incompatible with the pluralistic and secular India he was taught to value.
He nevertheless said the city might not have jurisdiction to cancel a private event.
The RSS is widely described by scholars and rights organisations as a Hindu nationalist organisation and is closely associated with India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. Bhagwat has led the organisation since 2009.
Mamdani’s opposition has been joined by a broad coalition of groups that say Bhagwat’s appearance risks legitimising an ideology that has contributed to the marginalisation of religious minorities in India.
Brad Lander, a former New York City comptroller and Democratic congressional candidate, joined protests against the event, saying there was “no room for Mohan Bhagwat and RSS hatred” in New York. Muslim, Sikh, Hindu and interfaith organisations have similarly called for the gathering at Madison Square Garden to be cancelled.
Hindus for Human Rights described the RSS as an organisation with a history of religious supremacy and attacks on India’s pluralistic foundations. The group said the New York event represented an attempt to give Hindu nationalism an international platform under the language of unity and inclusion.
The Indian American Muslim Council has also opposed Bhagwat’s visit, while the Sikh Council of New York has urged Mamdani to condemn the RSS chief’s appearance and highlighted the organisation’s influence on the political worldview associated with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The criticism has now reached the federal level.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has urged Washington to consider targeted sanctions against RSS members and Indian officials it says are implicated in religious-freedom violations.
It has specifically called for Bhagwat’s US visa to be revoked and for him to be made ineligible for future entry.
USCIRF’s intervention reflects concerns that extend beyond the New York event itself. The commission has repeatedly raised concerns about religious-freedom conditions in India, including violence and incitement targeting religious minorities.
Its recommendations, however, are non-binding and do not represent US government policy.
Ideological relation with fascism
Experts also point to the RSS’ ideological history.
Scholars of Hindu nationalism have documented affinities between early RSS thought and European fascist movements, particularly around ideas of cultural and national homogeneity.
Political scientist Christophe Jaffrelot has described the organisation as having a “fascistic dimension,” while distinguishing it from European fascism as a specifically Indian form of anti-liberal nationalism.
The controversy is therefore not simply over whether Bhagwat should be allowed to speak in New York.
It reflects a deeper dispute over what the RSS represents and whether an organisation associated with Hindu majoritarianism should be able to present itself internationally as an advocate of universal religious harmony.
The irony has been central to the criticism.
The August 29 gathering is being promoted as the “Universal Oneness Celebration,” with organisers presenting it as an interfaith and multicultural forum. The RSS has described the programme as open to people from different religious and cultural backgrounds.
But opponents argue that the language of unity cannot be separated from the political project associated with the organisation’s ideology and its influence in India.
The backlash has also exposed divisions within the Indian diaspora.
Some Hindu-American organisations and supporters of the BJP have defended Bhagwat and accused his critics of anti-Hindu prejudice.
BJP figures in India have similarly attacked Mamdani’s position as divisive.
That criticism, however, has not erased the central issue raised by Bhagwat’s opponents: whether the international projection of an organisation rooted in Hindu majoritarian politics should be treated as an ordinary exercise in cultural representation.
For Mamdani and the coalition opposing the event, Bhagwat’s New York appearance is therefore not merely a diaspora gathering.
It is a test of whether an ideology that human rights monitors say has undermined India’s religious pluralism can be repackaged abroad as “universal oneness” without scrutiny.
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