New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has publicly stated his opposition to a right-wing Hindu nationalist event scheduled for next week at Madison Square Garden. Mayor Mamdani has characterized the group organizing the event, which is closely linked to India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), as having an exclusionary vision.
The upcoming event will be headlined by Mohan Bhagwat, the chief of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a Hindu nationalist paramilitary organization. Founded in 1925 by Keshav Baliram Hedgewar in the Indian city of Nagpur, the RSS is widely described as the fountainhead of the Hindutva or Hindu nationalist movement. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP is frequently regarded as the political arm of the organization.
Activists are currently urging Mayor Mamdani to cancel the event. Demonstrators are expected to assemble outside City Hall to demand the cancellation and to condemn the organization’s growing influence in the United States. Sravya Tadepalli, deputy executive director of the group Hindus for Human Rights, issued a formal statement regarding the event, asserting that Mohan Bhagwat does not represent Hindus, but rather leads an extremist Hindu nationalist movement that has fueled violence, exclusion, and fear for minority communities.
Tadepalli added that New York should not provide the RSS with a platform to rebrand religious nationalism as unity, and she stated that they would gather at City Hall to defend a truly pluralistic vision of India where no faith determines citizenship or political power.
The planned rally at City Hall is intended to build on a letter signed by dozens of human rights and community groups, as well as local officials including Brad Lander and Shahana Hanif. Conversely, other local Indian American politicians, state assembly member Steven Raga and city council member Shekar Krishnan, have not signed the statement. When reached for comment by Middle East Eye, Mayor Mamdani and the two local politicians did not provide a response by the time of publication.
Activists urge Mamdani to cancel Hindu nationalist event in
Edward Anderson, a scholar of Hindu nationalism and the Indian diaspora, noted that while the RSS leader headlining a major event in New York may seem surprising, the organization has sought to cultivate support among the Indian diaspora for years. Regarding the choice of venue, Anderson stated that it reflects a strength and success linked to their narrative of pride and assertiveness, and noted that it is important for creating images and content that can be transmitted back to India.
Anderson suggested the event is part of a broader effort to strengthen the legitimacy and influence of the RSS and to oppose the characterization of the organization as paramilitary and anti-minority. In September 2014, Prime Minister Modi spoke at the same venue to a crowd of approximately 18,000 people. At the time, the Los Angeles Times described the atmosphere as a rock-star reception.
Adding fuel to already existing fire
Mayor Mamdani has a history of criticizing the rise of Hindu nationalism. In 2024, four months before assuming his current office, Mamdani signed a letter calling for the removal of a Hindu nationalist float from the annual India Day parade. That float depicted a temple built atop the ruins of a mosque in Ayodhya. Mamdani told Maktoob Media at the time that the issue extended beyond a single float, explaining that for the BJP and associated Hindu nationalist groups, India’s Muslim population is not only an obstacle to their political goals but is also fundamentally incompatible with their definition of the nation.
However, Mamdani’s opposition to the RSS event has drawn sharp criticism from prominent Hindu-Americans in New York. Critics accuse the 33-year-old Democrat of fueling division. Lakshmi Bandlamudi, a psychology professor at LaGuardia Community College, stated that harmony is destroyed when one community is pitted against another, and she characterized Mamdani as being too divisive.
Mamdani has previously faced scrutiny for calling New York Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar a puppet of Hindu fascists.
In 2020, he appeared at a Times Square protest against the construction of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, where some attendees were recorded chanting anti-Hindu expletives. Additionally, Mamdani has drawn backlash for remarks promising to “arrest” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and for his criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Satya Dosapati, a 67-year-old New Jersey telecom worker, participated in funding an aerial banner over the Hudson River that called for saving New York City from a global intifada and rejecting Mamdani.