Mamdani opposes RSS chief Bhagwat’s NYC event, questions city’s power to stop it

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has signalled that his administration is unlikely to intervene to stop RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s event at Madison Square Garden, saying the city may not have the authority to cancel a private gathering.

“I don’t support the rally, but I don’t know if the city has any jurisdiction on canceling a private event,” Mamdani told reporters on Aug 25.

His remarks came as a coalition of 61 civil rights, faith, community and advocacy organisations pressed Madison Square Garden to cancel the Aug 29 event.

Mamdani said he opposed movements based on an exclusionary vision while recalling the idea of India he inherited from his family.

“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,” he said.

“The vision of India that I was taught by my family, and the one that I grew up being very familiar with was of a pluralistic society of a secular republic that believed in the belonging of each and every person who was from India,” Mamdani said.

“And it has been incredibly troubling to see the rise of a movement that is predicated on an exclusionary vision of any country, frankly,” he added.

Mamdani said he found himself “in deep opposition” to such a movement, both as an Indian American and as the mayor of a diverse city.

Brad Lander, the Democratic nominee for New York’s 10th Congressional District, City Council Member Shahana Hanif and representatives of Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Dalit and Christian communities joined the campaign against the Bhagwat event at a news conference outside New York City Hall.

Referring to the Garden’s hosting of a German American Bund rally in 1939, Lander added: “It should not host this one.”

Hanif said New York’s diverse South Asian communities “have felt the impacts of the hateful ideology and violence associated with the RSS.”

Amin Zama of the Indian American Muslim Council said the campaign was directed against an ideology rather than a religious community. “Our message today is not against Hindus,” he said. “Our message is against an ideology that seeks to define citizenship and national belonging through religious identity.”

“Except for the headline, no changes have been made to the story by Education Post staff.”