Ram Puniyani
The Sarsanghchalak (chief) of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Mohan Bhagwat has undertaken a tour of three countries abroad. The first in the series was the United States of America, where apart from a few other engagements his major event was to address the gathering at Madison square in New York. It was expected that over 5,000 people would attend it. The stated objective of the visit was to dispel misconceptions about the RSS, to have dialogue and spread the message of universal oneness.
Before the proposed meeting, there were huge protests, involving nearly 61 Human rights organisations who highlighted the hate politics of the RSS combine – Sangh Parivar. The protesters highlighted the writings from the RSS stable where Adolf Hitler is praised for genocide of Jews and this method of nation building is recommended for Hindu Nationalists. The protesters also held banners that RSS had killed Mahatma Gandhi. Even the mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani, an India origin person criticised the RSS and stated his displeasure with the RSS event, expressing his inability to stop the event.
He also said that the India where he was raised, (he is son of Mira Nair, the renowned filmmaker from India) was respecting diversity, while today India has become an intolerant state. Many Hindu organisations and others respecting human rights also took part in the protests against Bhagwat.
The meeting of Bhagwat was organised by over 200 organisations mainly working for identity issues. In the meeting, Bhagwat tried to pose as a liberal, hiding his politics of exclusion. He stated that diversity is a decoration of our innate unity and that Hindus wanting Muslims out of India won’t remain Hindu!
Judging an Organisation Not by its Words But Deeds
Noble words! How do we judge a person and an organisation? By his sayings or by his deeds? Unity in diversity, syncretism and deeper integration of people irrespective of their religion has been the hallmark of India’s past. During the freedom movement, with ideals of Bhagat Singh, values of Ambedkar and fraternity of Gandhi, the people struggled for independence from British slavery. RSS-Hindu Mahasabha on one side and Muslim League on the other remained aloof from the integrative process. It was this national movement for freedom which based itself on liberty, equality and fraternity.
RSS during this time not only remained aloof from the process of Indian nation building, it actively participated in spreading hate against Muslims (and later against Christians too) and also helped the British rulers in various ways. The hate spread by it through its Shakhas, schools, media and later social media led to the communal outbursts in which Muslims were the major victims. While during British rule Muslim and Hindu communalism competed equally, after independence, it was RSS communalism which dominated the scene, leading to creating a deep wedge between the two major communities. It was this hate which saw the carnage against Muslims in 1993 Mumbai, 2002 Gujarat, 2013 Muzaffarnagar, 2020 in Delhi.
Gujarat also showed its politics in true colours where a single case of Bilkis Bano reveals it all. A pregnant Muslim woman is gang raped, and the guilty are later released after spending some time in jail! So much for its respect for women! It also floated the issue of holy cow, leading to lynching of many Muslims, Akhlaq, Rakbar Khan, and of Dalits. The flogging of Dalit men in Una remains a big reminder of RSS’ attitude towards Dalits.
From the decades of 1980s, Christians also came under the Sangh’s overt hammer. While burning alive of pastor Stains with his two minor sons was aptly called as belonging to the inventory of black deeds of humanity by the then President of India Dr K.R. Narayanan, the Kandhmal violence further showed that the slogan ‘Christianity is a foreign religion’ was actively propounded by it. The RSS’s message against Muslims and Christians became intense during the last decade or so when its political arm has in power in the centre for more than 12 years.
Lately the intensity of its attacks on prayer meetings has seen an upswing. Muslims have been totally marginalised. It is very interesting to note that today the RSS’s political progeny BJP has a total of over 1,000 MPs and MLAs put together and not one amongst them is a Muslim, so much for Bhagwat’s treatment of Muslims in India. In 2025, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), an independent, bipartisan federal commission created by the US Congress to monitor religious freedom abroad and make recommendations to the US government, has recommended that the government designate India as a “country of particular concern.”
USCIRF also recommended targeted sanctions against individuals and entities, including the RSS. The suggested measures include the freezing of their assets and restricting their entry into the country. Most recently, USCIRF officials warned against extending high-level meetings and diplomatic courtesies to Bhagwat and other RSS leaders. Several human rights and advocacy organisations have also called on secretary of state Marco Rubio to deny or revoke Bhagwat’s US visa.
RSS’s Actions Betray its Claims of Respecting Diversity
While the RSS’s actions totally betray its claims of respecting diversity, this shows how clever Bhagwat is in hiding the RSS’s reality. The mask of diversity is a decoy to try to mislead the world. But will the world be misled in the era of internet and longing for human rights? While RSS has over 2,500 affiliated organisations abroad as per the ongoing study of Caravan Magazine, there are also international scholars and activists telling the truth of Indian situation vis a vis Muslims, Christians, Dalits, Women, Adivasis and workers.
It seems that the chief aim of Bhagwat is not to promote universal oneness but to whitewash the Sangh Parivar’s horrific doings in India. The falling of India’s ranking in international indices of religious freedom, freedom of expression, press freedom, hunger index and happiness index runs parallel with rise of RSS-BJP regime. Bhagwat deserves compliments for his ‘cleverness’ in hiding the hate politics, which is a direct consequence of Hindu nationalist politics.
His aim also may be to strengthen the Hindu Lobby in America and abroad through the mask of diversity which he thinks he is wearing with ease. For peace in India, we need to follow the Indian Constitution, which the RSS combine opposes. For global oneness, the best option is the United Nations Charter of Human rights. To quote the scriptures in the era of global village is totally off the mark and it rather shows the real intention of Hindu Supremacy.
The author is a former Professor of Biomedical Engineering at IIT Bombay and writes on political and social issues. The views expressed are personal.
Before the proposed meeting, there were huge protests, involving nearly 61 Human rights organisations who highlighted the hate politics of the RSS combine – Sangh Parivar. The protesters highlighted the writings from the RSS stable where Adolf Hitler is praised for genocide of Jews and this method of nation building is recommended for Hindu Nationalists. The protesters also held banners that RSS had killed Mahatma Gandhi. Even the mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani, an India origin person criticised the RSS and stated his displeasure with the RSS event, expressing his inability to stop the event.
He also said that the India where he was raised, (he is son of Mira Nair, the renowned filmmaker from India) was respecting diversity, while today India has become an intolerant state. Many Hindu organisations and others respecting human rights also took part in the protests against Bhagwat.
The meeting of Bhagwat was organised by over 200 organisations mainly working for identity issues. In the meeting, Bhagwat tried to pose as a liberal, hiding his politics of exclusion. He stated that diversity is a decoration of our innate unity and that Hindus wanting Muslims out of India won’t remain Hindu!
Judging an Organisation Not by its Words But Deeds
Noble words! How do we judge a person and an organisation? By his sayings or by his deeds? Unity in diversity, syncretism and deeper integration of people irrespective of their religion has been the hallmark of India’s past. During the freedom movement, with ideals of Bhagat Singh, values of Ambedkar and fraternity of Gandhi, the people struggled for independence from British slavery. RSS-Hindu Mahasabha on one side and Muslim League on the other remained aloof from the integrative process. It was this national movement for freedom which based itself on liberty, equality and fraternity.
RSS during this time not only remained aloof from the process of Indian nation building, it actively participated in spreading hate against Muslims (and later against Christians too) and also helped the British rulers in various ways. The hate spread by it through its Shakhas, schools, media and later social media led to the communal outbursts in which Muslims were the major victims. While during British rule Muslim and Hindu communalism competed equally, after independence, it was RSS communalism which dominated the scene, leading to creating a deep wedge between the two major communities. It was this hate which saw the carnage against Muslims in 1993 Mumbai, 2002 Gujarat, 2013 Muzaffarnagar, 2020 in Delhi.
Gujarat also showed its politics in true colours where a single case of Bilkis Bano reveals it all. A pregnant Muslim woman is gang raped, and the guilty are later released after spending some time in jail! So much for its respect for women! It also floated the issue of holy cow, leading to lynching of many Muslims, Akhlaq, Rakbar Khan, and of Dalits. The flogging of Dalit men in Una remains a big reminder of RSS’ attitude towards Dalits.
From the decades of 1980s, Christians also came under the Sangh’s overt hammer. While burning alive of pastor Stains with his two minor sons was aptly called as belonging to the inventory of black deeds of humanity by the then President of India Dr K.R. Narayanan, the Kandhmal violence further showed that the slogan ‘Christianity is a foreign religion’ was actively propounded by it. The RSS’s message against Muslims and Christians became intense during the last decade or so when its political arm has in power in the centre for more than 12 years.
Lately the intensity of its attacks on prayer meetings has seen an upswing. Muslims have been totally marginalised. It is very interesting to note that today the RSS’s political progeny BJP has a total of over 1,000 MPs and MLAs put together and not one amongst them is a Muslim, so much for Bhagwat’s treatment of Muslims in India. In 2025, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), an independent, bipartisan federal commission created by the US Congress to monitor religious freedom abroad and make recommendations to the US government, has recommended that the government designate India as a “country of particular concern.”
USCIRF also recommended targeted sanctions against individuals and entities, including the RSS. The suggested measures include the freezing of their assets and restricting their entry into the country. Most recently, USCIRF officials warned against extending high-level meetings and diplomatic courtesies to Bhagwat and other RSS leaders. Several human rights and advocacy organisations have also called on secretary of state Marco Rubio to deny or revoke Bhagwat’s US visa.
RSS’s Actions Betray its Claims of Respecting Diversity
While the RSS’s actions totally betray its claims of respecting diversity, this shows how clever Bhagwat is in hiding the RSS’s reality. The mask of diversity is a decoy to try to mislead the world. But will the world be misled in the era of internet and longing for human rights? While RSS has over 2,500 affiliated organisations abroad as per the ongoing study of Caravan Magazine, there are also international scholars and activists telling the truth of Indian situation vis a vis Muslims, Christians, Dalits, Women, Adivasis and workers.
It seems that the chief aim of Bhagwat is not to promote universal oneness but to whitewash the Sangh Parivar’s horrific doings in India. The falling of India’s ranking in international indices of religious freedom, freedom of expression, press freedom, hunger index and happiness index runs parallel with rise of RSS-BJP regime. Bhagwat deserves compliments for his ‘cleverness’ in hiding the hate politics, which is a direct consequence of Hindu nationalist politics.
His aim also may be to strengthen the Hindu Lobby in America and abroad through the mask of diversity which he thinks he is wearing with ease. For peace in India, we need to follow the Indian Constitution, which the RSS combine opposes. For global oneness, the best option is the United Nations Charter of Human rights. To quote the scriptures in the era of global village is totally off the mark and it rather shows the real intention of Hindu Supremacy.
The author is a former Professor of Biomedical Engineering at IIT Bombay and writes on political and social issues. The views expressed are personal.
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