On August 29, Mohan Bhagwat, chief of India’s Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), is scheduled to speak at Madison Square Garden. His message will center on “unity,” civic responsibility and global harmony.
But the RSS, the ideological parent of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has a record that tells a different story. The RSS has long promoted a vision of India as a Hindu nation, marginalizing the country’s Muslim and other minority communities. Its history includes involvement in the broader movement surrounding the demolition of the Babri Masjid and a wider Hindu-nationalist movement associated with anti-Muslim violence.
That ideology has also traveled to the United States. In 2022, a bulldozer, a symbol of the demolition of Muslim homes and mosques in India, was driven through an India Day parade in Edison, New Jersey, prompting Muslim community members to condemn it as an act of intimidation.
Bhagwat’s appearance at an iconic American venue is deeply troubling for three reasons:
- It whitewashes systematic persecution. The language of “unity” risks laundering a record that includes violence against religious minorities, discriminatory anti-conversion laws, the Citizenship Amendment Act and proposed National Register of Citizens, and the demolition of Muslim homes, mosques, and schools.
- It exports hate and intimidation. Hindutva politics has polarized the Indian American diaspora and made Muslim, Christian, Sikh, and Dalit communities feel unsafe.
- It undermines U.S. human rights accountability.
For us, this is not simply about one speaker or one event. It is about whether hate and exclusion should be given a platform without scrutiny, especially when they are packaged in the language of unity and harmony.
We are committed to raising these concerns with our elected officials and urging them to stand with the communities affected by Hindutva extremism, speak clearly against religious and ethnic hatred, and reject efforts to normalize discrimination. Our elected leaders have a responsibility to ensure that American venues and institutions are not used to legitimize ideologies that undermine the rights and safety of religious minorities, here or abroad.
Policy Perspectives
A Clear Message from Voters
Bhagwat’s “unity” tour risks becoming a public relations campaign to sanitize the RSS’s record of Hindutva-driven discrimination and religious persecution.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has repeatedly documented the severity of these violations:
- For seven consecutive years, USCIRF has recommended designating India a Country of Particular Concern for severe religious freedom violations.
- USCIRF has documented the disproportionate enforcement of anti-conversion laws against religious minorities.
- USCIRF has warned that the Citizenship Amendment Act, combined with a nationwide National Register of Citizens, could leave millions of Indian Muslims stateless.
- USCIRF has documented the demolition of mosques and madrasas, as well as violence and discrimination targeting Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Dalits, and other minorities.
- In its 2026 report, USCIRF recommended targeted sanctions against RSS officials for their role in severe religious freedom violations.
U.S. elected officials, civic leaders, venues, and institutions should not help legitimize organizations implicated in severe religious persecution. We urge them to take these concerns seriously, engage directly with affected communities, and support accountability for religious freedom violations, including USCIRF’s recommendations and targeted sanctions against responsible RSS officials.
And voters should be paying attention. When elected officials are asked to confront hate and religious persecution, do they speak up or stay silent? Do they stand with communities facing discrimination, or lend legitimacy to those responsible for it? Those choices matter, and voters should remember them when deciding who deserves their support.
Unity cannot be a slogan. It requires accountability and equal rights for everyone.
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