Oneness or Hindu supremacy? RSS chief Bhagwat’s secretive New York hosts

Published On 28 Aug 202628 Aug 2026.

Key points

• The RSS is a right-wing Hindu volunteer organisation founded in 1925 by physician and Hindu nationalist Keshav Baliram Hedgewar in Nagpur, modern-day Maharashtra.
• In an official note published on August 19, Sravya Tadepalli, deputy executive director of Hindus for Human Rights, remarked, Mohan Bhagwat does not represent Hindus.
• The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, sometimes called the Sangh for short, is Hindi for National Volunteer Organisation.
• On Thursday, senior RSS functionary Sunil Ambekar remarked, "The Universal Oneness Celebration in New York exemplifies an interfaith gathering."
• According to its website, the group has chapters throughout major US cities including New York, Boston, Atlanta, Dallas, Chicago, Washington, DC an Houston, among others.

In practice, a visit by India's Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat to the United States this week is being resisted by numerous activists, politicians and human rights groups in New York.

Bhagwat is scheduled to speak on Saturday at an event called the "Universal Oneness Celebration" at Madison Square Garden in New York, and is projected to draw more than 5, 000 attendees, including multifaith leaders.

But while the event is being billed as an event for unity, the RSS – a Hindu majoritarian front that is the parent of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party – has repeatedly faced accusations back in India of contributing to the persecution of religious minorities, including Muslims and Christians.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani informed local media on Tuesday that he does not backing the upcoming event and called the RSS's ideology "exclusionary." Plenty of human rights groups in the US, such as Hindus for Human Rights, have remarked in an official note that "Mohan Bhagwat does not represent Hindus."

Meanwhile, the principal organiser of Saturday's event is a US-based non-profit group called American Hindus for Engagement and Dialogue (AHEAD) Forum. It argues on its website that it seeks to promote intercultural understanding. But the website itself offers no details of those behind the group.

Meanwhile, a deeper look at the group's founding and registration documents, nevertheless, sheds light on its leaders – and their deep links to the RSS. It has long advocated for a Hindu-first vision for India, a country that has otherwise, through its millennia-long history, been home to residents from plenty of faiths.

So what is AHEAD Forum and who are the organisers of Bhagwat's New York event? What is the event regarding?

For context, the event, organised by AHEAD Forum, will take place from on Saturday 2: 00pm to 15: 30pm local time (19: 00-21: 30 GMT) in Madison Square Garden in New York.

According to AHEAD's social media platforms, the event called "Universal Oneness Celebration" seeks to celebrate "diversity, dialogue, and the timeless Indian philosophy of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam."

Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam is a Sanskrit phrase which translates to "the world is one family."

India's RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has been invited as the event's keynote speaker and comes more than a year after the RSS celebrated 100 years since its founding in 1925. Leaders from other faiths are additionally anticipated to attend.

But Apoorvanand, a Hindi professor at the University of Delhi who writes literary and cultural criticism, informed Al Jazeera that the "unity" for the event refer to "Hindu unity".

"The objective is to establish Hindu unity. It the RSS works for. It's additionally concerning Hindu unity against Muslims and Christians, " he noted. What is the RSS and who is Bhagwat?

For context, the RSS is a right-wing Hindu volunteer organisation founded in 1925 by physician and Hindu nationalist Keshav Baliram Hedgewar in Nagpur, modern-day Maharashtra.

Notably, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, sometimes called the Sangh for short, is Hindi for National Volunteer Organisation.

Notably, the RSS works throughout society, operating schools, hospitals, magazines and publishing houses, to advocate for the idea of Hindutva, a Hindu supremacist idea that seeks to turn India from a constitutionally secular state into a Hindu one.

It describes itself as a "Hindu-centric civilisational, cultural movement" that intends to "carry the nation to the pinnacle of glory" and is often described as the ideological mothership of India's governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

But the RSS has additionally been banned in India a number of times, including in 1948 after a former member assassinated independence leader Mahatma Gandhi.

At present, the RSS leads a network of more than 2, 500 right-wing Hindu organisations called the Sangh Parivar, Hindi for "RSS family".

Bhagwat, who was born in Chandrapur in the Indian state of Maharashtra, grew up in a family that backed RSS values and officially became the organisation's member in 1975. He was appointed as the organisation's chief in March 2009. What is the controversy over the New York event?

Indian human rights groups, activists and additionally New York's Mayor Mamdani have resisted the event.

When asked by local media on Tuesday regarding stopping the event, Mamdani stated that as the first Indian-American mayor of New York, it has "been incredibly troubling to see the rise of a movement that is predicated on an exclusionary vision".

He acknowledged that he grew up in India. It he remarked was "a pluralistic society of a secular Republic that believed in the belonging of each and every person who was from India."

As mayor of New York, he could stop a private organisation's event, he, nevertheless, went on that he was not sure if.

In an official note published on August 19, Sravya Tadepalli, deputy executive director of Hindus for Human Rights, remarked, "Mohan Bhagwat does not represent Hindus. He represents the fringe, extremist Hindu nationalist movement. It has engaged in hate and violence against religious minority communities for a century."

"In 1939, Madison Square Garden hosted a Nazi rally. It any of us can look back on and feel shock and shame. Madison Square Garden should not create the same mistake by holding a rally celebrating the leader of a hate movement like Hindu nationalism, " Tadepalli went on.

Against the backdrop of these remarks, the RSS has defended Bhagwat's goals at the upcoming event.

He remarked that Bhagwat would "communicate with a diverse, multicultural and multi-faith audience". What is AHEAD Forum?

AHEAD Forum describes itself as an organisation that "builds bridges between communities worldwide through understanding and mutual respect".

AHEAD Forum was registered as a nonprofit organisation in May 2025. According to the Internal Revenue Service (the US tax agency), the Forum filed for tax exemption in September 2025.

At the end of 2025, the tax filing demonstrates that AHEAD had generated revenue of $61, 409 – all of it from contributions. AHEAD additionally had assets worth $61, 124 in the last fiscal year. Who are the key individuals at AHEAD?

While US IRS data demonstrates that AHEAD's current directors are Sudesh Agrawal, Naresh Rajanna and Rasita Vishnuram, a report published by Savera, a coalition of US-based groups trying to combat the rise of Hindu nationalism, suggests direct links between the nonprofit and the RSS.

Al Jazeera has additionally independently verified a series of documents filed by AHEAD with US agencies that show these links.

In practice, the group listed an individual named Harish Kandpal as its bookkeeper in its filing with the IRS under its tax-exempt status in 2025.

As its bookkeeper, but California's listing of registered nonprofits and businesses demonstrates that AHEAD Forum was, until earlier this year, listing Khanderao Kand, a long-time US-based leader of the RSS and its overseas wing, the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS). The organisation, in fact, was originally registered to Kand's address. The California database demonstrates the registration was changed to Kandpal's address in March 2026.

That, Savera remarked in its report, happened after Kand's RSS links and his efforts to lobby in the US on behalf of the Hindu supremacist group were "exposed by investigative reporting".

Nevertheless, Kandpal and Kand have previously been colleagues at the Foundation for India and Indian Diaspora Studies, another US-based group founded by Kand.

For now, oneness or Hindu supremacy? RSS chief Bhagwat's secretive New York hosts remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.