New York mayor Mamdani makes a stink over RSS event, stirs up row among Indian diaspora

WASHINGTON/NEW DELHI: New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani has stirred up a row among sections of the diaspora – and between Indian political parties – by declaring that he does not support a planned Aug 29 appearance by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat at MSG, while conceding that his office probably cannot cancel it.The gathering, billed as the 'Universal Oneness Celebration' and organised by American Hindus for Engagement and Dialogue, is expected to draw about 5,000 Indian Americans during the RSS’s centenary-year global outreach. “I don’t support the rally, but I don’t know if the city has any jurisdiction on cancelling a private event,” Mamdani told reporters Tuesday, amid left-liberal opposition to the event and demands to cancel it.Mamdani, New York’s first Indian-American and Muslim mayor (and son of film-maker Mira Nair and Ugandan-Indian Mahmood Mamdani), framed his opposition as a clash of competing visions. “The vision of India that I was taught by my family” was of “a pluralistic society, of a secular republic” in which everyone belonged, he said. The rise of a movement based on an “exclusionary vision,” he added, was “incredibly troubling.”In India, BJP MP Bhola Singh called Mamdani’s characterisation “incorrect and baseless”. “RSS has been continuously engaged in social service and nation-building for a very long time,” he said. BJP spokesperson Syed Zafar Islam termed the mayor’s statement “divisive”, while MP Yogender Chandolia said Bhagwat led a social organisation.Support crossed Maharashtra’s political divide. Shiv Sena (UBT) spokesperson Anand Dubey said opposition to an Indian leader abroad was “unwarranted”. Shiv Sena’s Shaina NC accused Mamdani of “appeasement politics” and cited work by RSS-linked service bodies in the US. Party leader Sanjay Nirupam went further, using the term “jihadi” for the mayor.However, TMC MP Saugata Roy said RSS ideology would not work in multi-religious New York. Congress MP Imran Masood questioned the purpose and global message of the event, while senior Congress politician from Maharashtra Nana Patole sought answers about the RSS’s structure, funding and Bhagwat’s visit.Bhagwat’s scheduled address is the centrepiece of the US leg of a three-country tour marking RSS’s centenary. The Sangh said the visit to the US, Canada and UK is intended to present what it called a factual view of India, Hindu society and RSS, counter “misinformation”, carry the message of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” (the world as one family), and deepen engagement with the diaspora. Community leadership programmes are planned in Toronto and London.American Hindus for Engagement and Dialogue said more than 200 Hindu-American organisations are supporting the 'Universal Oneness Celebration'. A coalition of 61 civil rights, religious and community groups has, however, asked Madison Square Garden to cancel it.Former Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant, a prominent socialist, called Bhagwat one of India’s “most prominent and dangerous” far-right Hindu fundamentalist leaders and urged Mamdani to cancel the event. Pushback came from Mary Millben, an African-American singer who frequently performs India’s national anthem at events, as she accused Mamdani and “all these socialist nuts” of opposing the event because they oppose Modi and the BJP. Madison Square Garden “doesn’t answer to socialist rants,” she sneered, telling the mayor and his allies to “become capitalists, raise money” and rent the Garden themselves.The sparring reflects a long-running American divide over the RSS. Critics in the US accuse it of fostering an atmosphere hostile to minorities. The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), an independent bipartisan federal commission recently recommended that the US govt impose targeted sanctions on RSS. However, American diplomats and political figures have periodically engaged with RSS functionaries in India and during their visits to the US. Indeed, the Obama administration opposed a 2015 court effort to compel the State Department to designate it a foreign terrorist organisation. Most recently, senior RSS functionary Ram Madhav and general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale made US visits in April, meeting with think tanks, academics, and policy experts.Pro-RSS groups maintain that the organisation is a cultural and voluntary movement and point to its extensive charitable and disaster-relief work in America. Some also accuse the American progressive left of a double standard: being extraordinarily vigilant about so-called Hindu nationalism while being more permissive toward radical Islamist or pro-Hamas activism. For now, however, the Bhagwat rally is likely to proceed – not because Mamdani approves of it, but because in America, disapproval is not a cancellation notice.Catch the latest World News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.