{"id":16939,"date":"2026-08-26T17:03:49","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T17:03:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/?p=16939"},"modified":"2026-08-26T17:03:49","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T17:03:49","slug":"new-york-mayor-mamdani-makes-a-stink-over-rss-event-stirs-up-row-among-indian-diaspora","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/?p=16939","title":{"rendered":"New York mayor Mamdani makes a stink over RSS event, stirs up row among Indian diaspora"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Mamdani says he opposes RSS event at Madison Square Garden but can’t cancel it, sparking backlash from BJP leaders and debate among NRIs<\/span><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

WASHINGTON\/NEW DELHI: New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani<\/a> has stirred up a row among sections of the diaspora \u2013 and between Indian political parties \u2013 by declaring that he does not support a planned Aug 29 appearance by RSS<\/a> chief Mohan Bhagwat<\/a> 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\u2019s centenary-year global outreach. \u201cI don\u2019t support the rally, but I don\u2019t know if the city has any jurisdiction on cancelling a private event,\u201d Mamdani told reporters Tuesday, amid left-liberal opposition to the event and demands to cancel it.Mamdani, New York\u2019s 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. \u201cThe vision of India that I was taught by my family\u201d was of \u201ca pluralistic society, of a secular republic\u201d in which everyone belonged, he said. The rise of a movement based on an \u201cexclusionary vision,\u201d he added, was \u201cincredibly troubling.\u201dIn India, BJP MP Bhola Singh called Mamdani\u2019s characterisation \u201cincorrect and baseless\u201d. \u201cRSS has been continuously engaged in social service and nation-building for a very long time,\u201d he said. BJP spokesperson Syed Zafar Islam termed the mayor\u2019s statement \u201cdivisive\u201d, while MP Yogender Chandolia said Bhagwat led a social organisation.Support crossed Maharashtra\u2019s political divide. Shiv Sena (UBT) spokesperson Anand Dubey said opposition to an Indian leader abroad was \u201cunwarranted\u201d. Shiv Sena\u2019s Shaina NC accused Mamdani of \u201cappeasement politics\u201d and cited work by RSS-linked service bodies in the US. Party leader Sanjay Nirupam went further, using the term \u201cjihadi\u201d 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\u2019s structure, funding and Bhagwat\u2019s visit.Bhagwat\u2019s scheduled address is the centrepiece of the US leg of a three-country tour marking RSS\u2019s 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 \u201cmisinformation\u201d, carry the message of \u201cVasudhaiva Kutumbakam\u201d (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\u2019s \u201cmost prominent and dangerous\u201d 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\u2019s national anthem at events, as she accused Mamdani and \u201call these socialist nuts\u201d of opposing the event because they oppose Modi and the BJP. Madison Square Garden \u201cdoesn\u2019t answer to socialist rants,\u201d she sneered, telling the mayor and his allies to \u201cbecome capitalists, raise money\u201d 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 \u2013 not because Mamdani approves of it, but because in America, disapproval is not a cancellation notice.<\/div>\n


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Mamdani says he opposes RSS event at Madison Square Garden but can’t cancel it, sparking backlash from BJP leaders and debate among NRIs WASHINGTON\/NEW DELHI: New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani has stirred up a row among sections of the diaspora \u2013 and between Indian political parties \u2013 by declaring that he does not support […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16633,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-31"],"magazineBlocksPostFeaturedMedia":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/mamdani-bhagwat.jpg","medium":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/mamdani-bhagwat.jpg","medium_large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/mamdani-bhagwat.jpg","large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/mamdani-bhagwat.jpg","1536x1536":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/mamdani-bhagwat.jpg","2048x2048":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/mamdani-bhagwat.jpg","blogsy-small":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/mamdani-bhagwat.jpg","blogsy-small-tall":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/mamdani-bhagwat.jpg","blogsy-small-square":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/mamdani-bhagwat.jpg","blogsy-small-masonry":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/mamdani-bhagwat.jpg","blogsy-medium":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/mamdani-bhagwat.jpg","blogsy-medium-masonry":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/mamdani-bhagwat.jpg","blogsy-large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/mamdani-bhagwat.jpg","blogsy-wide":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/mamdani-bhagwat.jpg"},"magazineBlocksPostAuthor":{"name":"admin","avatar":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8709732a479614e7a8aa24d3eb1b239f30dc6d90c61464ed495001e7a469d856?s=96&d=mm&r=g"},"magazineBlocksPostCommentsNumber":"0","magazineBlocksPostExcerpt":"Mamdani says he opposes RSS event at Madison Square Garden but can’t cancel it, sparking backlash from BJP leaders and debate among NRIs WASHINGTON\/NEW DELHI: New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani has stirred up a row among sections of the diaspora \u2013 and between Indian political parties \u2013 by declaring that he does not support […]","magazineBlocksPostCategories":["\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36 \u0b2c\u0b3f\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36"],"magazineBlocksPostViewCount":1,"magazineBlocksPostReadTime":4,"magazine_blocks_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/mamdani-bhagwat.jpg",400,225,false],"medium":["https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/mamdani-bhagwat.jpg",300,169,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/mamdani-bhagwat.jpg",150,84,false]},"magazine_blocks_author":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/author\/admin"},"magazine_blocks_comment":0,"magazine_blocks_author_image":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8709732a479614e7a8aa24d3eb1b239f30dc6d90c61464ed495001e7a469d856?s=96&d=mm&r=g","magazine_blocks_category":"\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36 \u0b2c\u0b3f\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36<\/a>","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16939\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}