‘No Room for Bhagwat’: Interfaith group blasts Hindutva leader’s upcoming MSG speech

NEW YORK (RNS) — A coalition of faith leaders and religious advocates gathered at New York’s City Hall on Tuesday (Aug. 25) to denounce the upcoming visit of Mohan Bhagwat, leader of the Hindu nationalist paramilitary organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) based in India.

Brad Lander, a New York Democratic Party nominee for Congress and former New York City comptroller, denounced what he described as an exclusionary and discriminatory ideology.

“There is no room for Mohan Bhagwat and RSS hatred in our city,” he said, adding the organization “fomented violence and promoted hatred against Muslims, against Sikhs, against Dalits, against Christians.”

The press conference, organized by the progressive advocacy organization Hindus for Human Rights, included speakers from the Indian American Muslim Council, the Interfaith Center of New York, Riverside Church and the New York State Council of Churches.

Bhagwat, chief of the RSS since 2009, is expected to address 5,000 Hindu Americans at Madison Square Garden on Saturday (Aug. 29). His visit has prompted outcry in the U.S., including from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Meanwhile, some Hindu…