September 4, 2026 (Nationwide) — Last weekend, the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) took to social media with a series of posts responding to opposition to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Chief Mohan Bhagwat’s visit to the United States and appearance at an event in New York City.
By way of background, the RSS is a Hindu nationalist paramilitary organization that has operated in India for nearly a century and serves as the ideological backbone of the country’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). For decades, scholars and human rights organizations have documented the RSS’s promotion of an exclusionary vision of a Hindu India and its decades-spanning role in fostering intolerance, discrimination, and targeted violence against religious minorities. Since assuming leadership in 2009, Bhagwat has presided over a network of affiliated organizations that has advanced Hindu majoritarianism across Indian political and social life.
Against the backdrop of India’s accelerating democratic backsliding, and credible allegations linking Indian state actors to assassination plots, extortion, and intimidation targeting Sikh communities across North America, Bhagwat’s entry to the United States without condition or accountability was deeply troubling. HAF, however, made several claims in response to various criticisms and protests of the RSS visit and event; we believe several of these claims warrant a direct and factual response.
On the claim that this was a “private Hindu event:” The RSS event, called the “Universal Oneness Celebration,” was live-streamed to a global audience and held at Madison Square Garden, one of the most prominent venues in the world. Bhagwat spoke before a reported crowd of roughly 5,000 people. This was not a private religious gathering held at a mandir or in someone’s home—it was a large, publicized event centered on the leader of the RSS, the ideological parent organization of India’s ruling party. Prime Minister Modi has described himself as a lifelong RSS member.
On the claim that opposition to the RSS amounts to “intimidation of Hindus:” The opposition to the RSS visit, and the Madison Square Garden event specifically, was diverse. The wide variety of people and groups that opposed Bhagwat’s visit included Hindu American individuals and organizations, alongside Christian, Muslim, Sikh, and interfaith organizations plus elected officials, congressional candidates, government bodies, and others. In fact, multiple faith leaders (see here and here) who spoke at the rally have since recanted and regretted their appearance. To suggest that criticism of the RSS is inherently anti-Hindu requires accepting the premise that the RSS speaks for all Hindus, a claim that many Hindu Americans reject. Ironically, asserting that the RSS is synonymous with Hinduism itself is the more Hinduphobic proposition, as it erases the diversity of thought within the Hindu American community.
On the claim that Mayor Mamdani’s comments put Hindu New Yorkers at risk: Mayor Mamdani was asked a direct question about the Madison Square Garden rally at a press conference—”should the rally be cancelled”—and answered it honestly, noting that he personally did not support the rally while also acknowledging the city likely lacked jurisdiction to cancel a privately organized event. The mayor also talked about supporting inclusive rather than exclusionary ideologies, and talked about belief in “the belonging of each and every person no matter their color, their creed, [or] their religion.” Claiming this as incitement is absurd and unsupported, especially given the actually inflammatory rhetoric we continue to hear from other elected officials and HAF itself.
On comments regarding the desecration of the Indian flag: Flag burning is a constitutionally protected form of political expression in the United States, settled by the Supreme Court. One may find it or other forms of flag desecration distasteful, but criticism of the Indian government or the Indian state is not, in and of itself, hatred directed at Hindus. Conflating protest against a foreign government’s policies with animus toward a faith community blurs a distinction that HAF, as a self-described civil rights organization, should be the first to preserve.
Regarding Khalistani Flags at various protests: Finally, it is true that many Sikhs, in Punjab and across the diaspora, support Khalistan. That support didn’t emerge in a vacuum. It grew in the aftermath of the 1984 Sikh Genocide, in which police reports filed by victims name RSS and BJP leaders alongside Congress, and where RSS’s own ideologue Nana Deshmukh publicly blamed Sikhs for “inviting” massacres rather than condemning the violence.
Sikh Americans have a First Amendment right to advocate for Khalistan, discuss self-determination, and criticize the Indian state. Conflating that protected political speech with a threat, as India does through UAPA prosecutions and NIA crackdowns, is an attempt to import Indian criminal law into American civic life. Freedom of expression and religion remain foundational, constitutionally protected rights that distinguish our civic life from that of antidemocratic societies.
Finally, on what was missing: Notably absent from the weekend’s breathless commentary by HAF was any actual engagement with the RSS’s history—including its founding ideology, its record on minority rights in India, or the substance of decades of documented scholarship and reporting on the organization. It is unfortunate—but telling—that HAF and others chose to avoid that substantive conversation in favor of shielding the RSS from criticism through claims of Hinduphobia. Recent reporting that a board member of HAF allegedly attended a “RSS Diaspora Training Camp” in December 2025 only raises further alarm.
As always, the Sikh Coalition urges you to practice your faith fearlessly.