New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has opposed an upcoming event featuring Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat, but said the city may not have the legal authority to cancel a private event.
Bhagwat is scheduled to address around 5,000 members of the Indian diaspora at Madison Square Garden in New York on Saturday, August 29, as part of the RSS’s centenary-year global outreach programme.
‘I don’t support the rally’
Speaking at a news conference on Tuesday, Mamdani was asked whether the event should be cancelled.
“I don’t support the rally, but I don’t know if the city has any jurisdiction on cancelling a private event,” he said.
Mamdani, who is the first Indian-American mayor of New York City, said his opposition to the RSS was also shaped by his connection to India.
“I also stand here as the first Indian-American Mayor in our city’s history, and my mother’s family is all still in India,” he said.
He said he had grown up with an understanding of India as “a pluralistic society” and “a secular republic that believed in the belonging of each and every person who was from India.”
Mamdani calls RSS vision ‘exclusionary’
Mamdani said he was “deeply” opposed to the RSS, both as an Indian-American and as mayor of New York.
“And it has been incredibly troubling to see the rise of a movement that is predicated on an exclusionary vision of any country, frankly,” he said.
He added that his opposition was consistent with New York’s values of welcoming people “no matter their colour, their creed, their religion, their faith, wherever they’re from.”
The RSS is a Hindutva organisation and is widely described as the ideological parent of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Groups protest Bhagwat’s New York visit
Mamdani’s comments came amid opposition from several interfaith and civil rights groups. Organisations including Hindus for Human Rights, the Indian American Muslim Council and the Interfaith Centre of New York held a press conference outside New York City Hall and called for Bhagwat’s appearance at Madison Square Garden to be cancelled.
The event, called the Universal Oneness Celebration, is being organised by the AHEAD Forum. Organisers have described it as an event promoting the message that “the world is one family” and calling for mutual respect and harmony.
Bhagwat arrived in the United States on Tuesday as part of the RSS’s centenary-year global outreach programme. He is also scheduled to visit Canada and the United Kingdom.
Opposition also raised in Canada
Bhagwat’s international tour has also faced opposition in Canada. Earlier this month, two Canadian MPs urged the government to ban the RSS and prevent Bhagwat from entering the country, citing allegations of hate speech and violence against religious minorities.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) also recently called for sanctions against RSS members and said its leaders should not receive high-level meetings or diplomatic courtesies.
The Indian government rejected the USCIRF’s position, describing the commission as “biased” and lacking credibility.
