An Open Letter to New York’s Faith and Interfaith Leaders
Organizers of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s August 29 event at Madison Square Garden are advertising that elected officials and interfaith leaders are expected to attend.
Some of those leaders may have been invited to what is being presented as a celebration of “Universal Oneness” without being fully informed about Bhagwat, the RSS, or the political purpose their attendance could serve.
We urgently ask faith leaders, interfaith organizations, denominational bodies, seminaries, chaplaincies, and congregations to distribute this letter throughout their networks. You may reach people who have been invited but do not yet understand what they are being asked to validate.
Bhagwat leads the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the century-old Hindu nationalist organization at the center of India’s ruling political movement. The RSS seeks to transform India into a Hindu Rashtra, or Hindu nation, in which Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Dalits, and other minorities are denied equal belonging. Its formative leaders admired Hitler and Mussolini, and Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated by Nathuram Godse, who had been an RSS member.
Now this history is being concealed behind spiritual language. Their event speaks of “Universal Oneness,” but religious supremacy, by definition, betrays that very concept. The organizers are counting on respected religious leaders, many of whom may be unfamiliar with the RSS, to give a movement rooted in religious supremacy the appearance of interfaith acceptance.
Faith leaders should not be unknowingly used to legitimize or spiritually sanitize the RSS.
If you or someone in your network has been invited, we ask you to:
Decline the invitation.
Refuse permission for your name, title, organization, or photograph to be associated with the event.
Inform other invited leaders about the RSS and the political significance of their attendance.
Let Hindus for Human Rights or the Interfaith Center of New York know privately if you have been approached.
Join the multifaith rally outside Madison Square Garden instead.
MULTIFAITH RALLY AGAINST RSS CHIEF MOHAN BHAGWAT
Saturday, August 29, 2026
12:00 to 4:00 p.m.
Outside Madison Square Garden, Seventh Avenue between West 31st and 33rd Streets, New York City
In 1939, Madison Square Garden gave a prestigious stage to more than 20,000 Nazi sympathizers seeking to make supremacy appear patriotic and respectable. New York must not allow that history to echo through another movement shaped by fascism and religious nationalism.
Please forward this letter to clergy, congregations, interfaith councils, denominational leaders, chaplains, seminaries, elected officials, and community organizations. Post it in your faith-leader groups. Share it through WhatsApp, Signal, email lists, and private networks. Contact anyone you believe may have received an invitation.
We do not know who has been invited. That is precisely why we need your help reaching them.
Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Dalit, anti-caste, interfaith, and civil-rights communities are standing together. We ask New York’s faith leaders to stand with us, not with the RSS.
Decline the invitation. Alert your networks. Join us outside Madison Square Garden. Help ensure that no faith leader unknowingly lends their moral authority to religious supremacy.
We end this appeal with the Hindu blessing: Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu, may all beings throughout the world be happy. It is in the spirit of that truly universal vision that we ask you to stand with us.
In solidarity,
The Hindus for Human Rights Team
Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu
May all beings throughout the world be happy.