Mamdani opposes RSS chief’s event in New York

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani has opposed an upcoming event featuring Mohan Bhagwat, chief of India’s ruling BJP’s ideological parent organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

Bhagwat, the head of the Hindu nationalist organisation, is scheduled to speak at the Manhattan event on Saturday, August 29. The event’s website describes it as a celebration of “universal unity” and says Hindus living in the United States will attend.

Several individuals and organisations in New York have objected to Bhagwat’s participation, citing the RSS’s controversial history and its Hindu nationalist ideology.

Mamdani said he did not support the event but was unsure whether the city had the legal authority to cancel a private gathering.

“I don’t support it. But I don’t know that New York City has the legal authority to cancel a private event,” he said.

Mamdani, who has spoken in favour of a pluralistic and secular India, said his family had raised him with a view of India as a society where people of all faiths should have equal rights and inclusion.

“It is painful to see the rise of an ideology rooted in an exclusionary or narrow vision,” he said.

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