NEW DELHI: New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani has said he does not support a planned event featuring RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat at Madison Square Garden, while noting that the city may not have the legal authority to stop the private gathering.Bhagwat is scheduled to address around 5,000 members of the Indian diaspora at the iconic New York venue on August 29. His visit to the United States is part of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh‘s centenary-year global outreach programme.“I don’t support the rally, but I don’t know if the city has any jurisdiction on cancelling a private event,” Mamdani said at a news conference on Tuesday.Mamdani was responding to questions about the RSS, the proposed event and protests against Bhagwat’s appearance. He was also asked whether the gathering should be cancelled.The mayor, who is the first Indian-American to hold the post in New York City, said his views were influenced partly by his family background.“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.He said his understanding of India was based on the idea of a society where people of different backgrounds could belong equally.He said the vision of India that he was taught by his family and the one that he grew up being very familiar with was that of “a pluralistic society, of a secular republic that believed in the belonging of each and every person who was from India”.Mamdani said he was opposed to what he described as an increasingly exclusionary political movement.“And it has been incredibly troubling to see the rise of a movement that is predicated on an exclusionary vision of any country, frankly, and so it is one that I find myself in deep opposition to, not only as an Indian-American but also as the Mayor of a city that believes deeply in the belonging of each and every person, no matter their colour, their creed, their religion, their faith, wherever they’re from,” Mamdani said.
Protests planned over Bhagwat event
The planned appearance has faced opposition from several interfaith and civil rights organisations. Groups including Hindus for Human Rights, the Indian American Muslim Council and the Interfaith Centre of New York held a press conference outside New York City Hall and called for the event to be cancelled.
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Bhagwat arrived in the US on Tuesday as part of the RSS’s centenary-year outreach. During his stay in New York, he is also expected to participate in the Universal Oneness programme.The event is being organised by AHEAD Forum, which said in a social media post that Bhagwat would attend the Universal Oneness Celebration in New York on August 29.“The event carries a timeless and universal message: ‘The world is one family’. It calls upon us to look beyond artificial divisions and differences, recognise the bonds that unite humanity, and embrace a spirit of mutual respect, harmony, and oneness,” the post said.Bhagwat’s wider international tour includes the US, Canada and the UK as part of the Sangh’s centenary-year global outreach programme.
