Protest in New York Targets RSS Chief’s Visit

A large demonstration outside Madison Square Garden challenged the message of unity promoted at an event featuring Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat. Protesters said the “Universal Oneness Celebration” could not be separated from what they described as the RSS’s Hindu supremacist ideology.

Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Dalit and civil-rights groups gathered under the banner “Hindus Say No to the RSS”. They accused the organization of advancing a majoritarian vision of India and of being associated with violence and discrimination against religious minorities.

Inside the venue, thousands attended the event organized by American Hindus for Engagement and Dialogue. Organizers presented it as a celebration of Hindu culture and the principle of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, or the idea that the world is one family. Protesters argued that the language of universal brotherhood concealed the RSS’s record in India.

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This is kind of a goodwill tour to improve the public image of the RSS.

“This is kind of a goodwill tour to improve the public image of the RSS,” Sravya Tadepalli of Hindus for Human Rights told reporters. She described the organization as a “fascist paramilitary organisation” accused of decades of communal violence against minorities.

The opposition began before Bhagwat arrived in New York. Mayor Zohran Mamdani publicly objected to the event and called the growth of an exclusionary vision of India deeply troubling, while acknowledging that the city might lack legal authority to stop a privately organized gathering. The US Commission on International Religious Freedom also called for Bhagwat’s visa to be revoked and urged the Trump administration to consider targeted sanctions against RSS members and Indian officials.

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Fascist paramilitary organisation