The protest, organised by Hindus for Human Rights and allied groups, brought together Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Dalit and interfaith activists who said Bhagwat’s appearance gave a platform to an organisation they accuse of advancing a Hindu nationalist agenda at the expense of religious minorities. Organisers billed their rally as a call for a secular, interfaith India and urged participants to reject what they described as religious supremacy.
Bhagwat, meanwhile, told the audience inside the arena that unity in diversity was fundamental to India’s civilisational outlook and said Hindu thought did not support excluding Muslims. He also urged members of the diaspora to remain loyal to the United States while retaining cultural values linked to India, presenting service and social harmony as central themes.
The Universal Oneness Celebration was organised by American Hindus for Engagement and Dialogue, or AHEAD Forum, which said more than 250 Hindu American organisations were supporting the programme. The organisers linked the event to Raksha Bandhan and Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, commonly rendered as “the world is one family”. They said the programme was intended to promote unity, shared heritage, civic responsibility and respect across communities.
Opponents disputed that framing. Hindus for Human Rights said the RSS’s ideology and political influence were incompatible with the inclusive message presented by the event. The Indian American Muslim Council and other participating organisations had also criticised Bhagwat’s visit and joined calls for greater scrutiny of the RSS’s activities in the United States.
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani had opposed Bhagwat’s appearance before the event, saying he rejected the RSS’s ideology while acknowledging that the city could not cancel a private programme at Madison Square Garden. His intervention intensified debate within diaspora communities and drew criticism from RSS supporters, who accused opponents of unfairly targeting a Hindu organisation.
The RSS rejected allegations that its message was exclusionary. Senior RSS functionary Sunil Ambekar said before the event that the New York gathering exemplified an interfaith programme and that Bhagwat would engage with a diverse, multicultural and multi-faith audience. The organisation describes itself as a cultural and volunteer movement focused on social service, character building and Hindu unity.
Scrutiny of Bhagwat’s visit also extended beyond activist groups. The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, a bipartisan federal body, said on August 26 that it was concerned about his visit and urged the US government to consider targeted sanctions against RSS members and officials it viewed as complicit in religious-freedom violations. Commission chairman Asif Mahmood also called for Bhagwat’s visa to be revoked.
The commission’s statement alleged that members of RSS-linked groups had been involved in violence targeting Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and Dalits, and said religious-freedom conditions in India had deteriorated. India’s government has rejected accusations that its policies discriminate against minorities and has maintained that constitutional protections apply equally to all citizens.
Saturday’s demonstration reflected divisions within the Hindu and South Asian diaspora over the political meaning of the RSS and its relationship with the Bharatiya Janata Party. The RSS is widely regarded as the ideological parent of the BJP, though it is organisationally separate. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was associated with the RSS before entering national politics.
The protest took place along Seventh Avenue near Madison Square Garden while attendees entered the invitation-based celebration. Organisers had expected 5,000 to 6,000 people inside, with cultural performances and speeches forming part of the programme.
Bhagwat’s address stressed that different religions could coexist within a shared humanity and argued that social change required public consensus rather than political power alone. He told the audience that a person who wanted India to have no Muslims could not, in his view, be considered a true Hindu.
