New York : New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday said he does not support the planned Madison Square Garden event at which RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat is due to address members of the Indian diaspora. Mamdani’s remarks came hours after Bhagwat arrived in the United States for the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s centenary-year global outreach programme.
The planned event at Madison Square Garden and the protests against it, Mamdani said, “I don’t support the rally, but I don’t know if the city has any jurisdiction on cancelling a private event.” He was asked whether the event should be cancelled. “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,” Mamdani said.
Several interfaith and civil rights organisations held a press conference outside New York City Hall, opposing Bhagwat’s appearance at Madison Square Garden and urging the venue to cancel the event. The groups included Hindus for Human Rights, the Indian American Muslim Council and the Interfaith Centre of New York, among others. The Universal Oneness Celebration, organised by AHEAD Forum, which is hosting Bhagwat, said in a social media post that the RSS chief would attend the event in New York on August 29.
Ahead Forum said on social media that the gathering is based on the ancient Indian philosophy of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, commonly translated as “the world is one family”. According to the organisers, the event is intended to promote mutual respect, harmony and shared bonds across cultural and religious divisions. The dispute has placed the planned event at the centre of a wider debate over free expression, political ideology and the representation of India’s diaspora communities in the United States.
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