An event in New York City featuring a prominent Hindu nationalist is being promoted as an invitation to send a positive message that “the world is one family”.

But an array of faith groups, advocacy organisations and unprivileged-caste organisations say they are not convinced. They fear Saturday’s rally, held at Madison Square Garden, is instead a high-profile effort to whitewash a record of discrimination and violence.

At issue is the Universal Oneness Celebration, hosted by the American Hindus for Engagement and Dialogue, a nonprofit that purports to advance “greater peace and harmony”.

One of its keynote speakers, however, will be Mohan Bhagwat, the leader of the Hindu paramilitary organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). His organisation has been accused of embracing discriminatory policies and stoking violence against minorities, including India’s Muslim, Christian and Sikh populations.

Protests are expected outside Madison Square Garden to denounce Bhagwat’s appearance.

“This is a movement that has normalised mob violence against Muslims, attacks on Muslim men in relationships with Hindu women and the bulldozing of Muslim homes,” said Safa Ahmed, a Muslim community organiser in North Carolina who has travelled to New York to join the protests.

She told Al Jazeera she is sceptical about the event organisers’ claims about embracing the world as “one family”.

“They may speak about unity, but it’s in stark contrast with the bloody reality faced by minorities in India,” she said.

Overseas outreach

Advocates say that Hindu nationalist groups are working to expand their influence in the United States, where roughly 2.5 million Hindus live.

To do that, they have utilised a variety of appeals to soften the image of the RSS, such as celebrations of Hindu culture and campaigns to highlight anti-Hindu discrimination.

Sravya Tadepalli, the deputy executive director of Hindus for Human Rights, sees Saturday’s rally as part of that trend. Her group opposes the event.

“This is kind of a goodwill tour to improve the public image of the RSS, which is a fascist paramilitary organisation that has engaged in decades of communal violence against religious minorities in South Asia,” Tadepalli told Al Jazeera.

“The organisations behind this have pitched it as a broad appeal to Hindu history with an emphasis on inclusivity when, in reality, the RSS advocates for the exact opposite.”

Critics have pointed out, however, that Hindu nationalists have also sought to cultivate links with the global far-right, emphasising a shared belief in the purported threats posed by Islam and secular elites.

The RSS is widely considered the ideological parent of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has ruled India since 2014 and sought to remake the country along Hindu nationalist lines.

In remarks to the 2024 National Conservatism Conference in Washington, DC, BJP Vice President Ram Madhav said that conservatives in the West should view India as an example of how to defeat what he called the “left, liberal, Marxist, radical Islamist cabal”.

The Modi model

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who entered politics as an RSS cadre before becoming the head of the BJP, has championed Hindu nationalism throughout his leadership.

Like Bhagwat, he has also taken his message on the road, to speak to overseas supporters in the US.

In September 2019, for instance, the prime minister addressed a crowd of 50,000 at a “Howdy, Modi!” rally in the state of Texas.

The event underscored Modi’s appeal among Indians living abroad and was one of the largest such events in US history. US President Donald Trump, another far-right leader, even joined Modi on stage.

But such appearances were controversial too. Before becoming prime minister in 2014, Modi was banned from entering the US because of his leadership during a 2002 massacre of Muslim residents in the state of Gujarat.

Modi faced accusations of turning a blind eye to the slayings and even offering his support.

Even as he faces protests, though, Modi remains enormously popular in India, consistently ranking as one of the most popular leaders in the world. A survey this month from the magazine India Today found that he is also the top choice for prime minister in India, despite slipping approval ratings. 

Divided diaspora

Still, outreach campaigns to rehabilitate the image of the RSS overseas have had limited success.

For instance, a 2024 survey found that, while Modi enjoyed near-majority support among Indian Americans for his performance as prime minister, 70 percent of respondents acknowledged that his rhetoric exemplified a growing threat to minorities in India.

Bhagwat’s planned appearance at Madison Square Garden has likewise ignited debate over his controversial commentary and leadership.

In a statement on Wednesday, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), an independent initiative within the federal government, called for Bhagwat’s visa to be revoked.

The commission warned that Bhagwat was “complicit in religious freedom violations”, along with other RSS members and Indian officials.

“Religious freedom conditions in India continue to deteriorate as violence and incitement are frequently used to target religious minority communities,” said USCIRF Chair Asif Mahmood. He urged the US to implement targeted sanctions.

When questioned about Bhagwat’s speech at a news conference this week, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani also spoke out against the RSS’s messaging.

“It has been incredibly troubling to see the rise of a movement that is predicated on an exclusionary vision of any country, frankly. And it is one that I find myself in deep opposition to,” Mamdani said, citing his identity as an Indian American.

He added that he does not “support the rally” but said he doubted the city had the jurisdiction to cancel a private event.

Ahmed, the community organiser from North Carolina, said she feels the backlash to Saturday’s event reflects a growing coalition in the Indian diaspora — one that brings together Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and unprivileged-caste voices.

“There is a vocal minority in the diaspora and a new, emerging majority who don’t believe in the politics of Modi and the RSS and who don’t want to see them gain traction here,” said Ahmed.

She predicted that Saturday’s event will ultimately backfire. “I’m very confident that Bhagwat will be met with a resounding rejection that he is not welcome.”