Kajal Hindusthani Press Conference at City Hall, NYC – July 15, 2025

On July 15, 2025, a powerful coalition of interfaith leaders, human rights activists, and community organizers gathered on the steps of New York City Hall to send a clear message: hate has no home in our city. This press conference was convened in response to Mayor Eric Adams' ties to a Hindu supremacist speaker—Kajal Hindustani—whose presence threatens the safety and dignity of New York’s diverse communities. Below, you’ll find video highlights and the full transcript of the event coordinated by the Savera Coalition — including remarks from Rabbis for Ceasefire, Hindus for Human Rights, the Muslim Community Network, and many others who are standing up for justice, inclusion, and accountability.

Vrinda Jagota
Hindus for Human Rights

Hi everyone. I'm Vrinda. I want to thank everyone who joined me today to demand that there is no place for hate and bigotry in New York City. As I said, my name is Vrinda, and I'm an organizer with Hindus for human rights here in New York, and I'm part of the severa collection coalition. Before I start my thoughts, I want to read a statement from council member Shahana Hanif, in this moment, we should be building bridges between our communities, not escalating tensions. It's troubling that our city's highest elected official plan to appear at such a divisive event. I'm thankful that the mayor decided not to attend, and grateful to those who sounded the alarm on this issue. Now, a few words from us. At Hindus for humans for right, excuse me from us, at Hindus for human rights. At each of HR, our progressive Hindu members in New York and across the world provide a voice for resistance against Hindu supremacy and caste with the goal of building an inclusive and just world for all people. We are a proud member of the savira coalition, through which we work with people of all faiths and backgrounds to stand up against Hindu supremacy. On Wednesday, the Gujarati Samaj of New York is hosting Kalal Hindustani, whose real name is Kajal singala, at an event in Queens. Hindustani is a virulent Hindu supremacist who has made a career of inciting violence and calling for genocide against Muslims and Christians in India. Harshad Patel. Patel, the president of the Gujarati Samaj of New York, has defended her inclusion in the event, calling her a good a special good speaker for Hinduism, which could not be further from the truth. There is absolutely nothing Hindu about Kalal calls for violence against Muslims and Christians, no matter what she changes her name to as Hindus, we are appalled that she's trying to associate with our religion to target people of other faiths. Mayor Adams accepted an invitation to speak at the event on Wednesday, and after we called him out on it last week, His office said he was never planning to go yet on Friday night, while New Yorkers across the city were working night shifts or taking care of their children or meeting with their friends for a drink, he was moving with Harshad Patel and the organizers of Wednesday's hateful event. We were asking Mayor Adams what we'd ask any mayor of New York. Don't engage with hate mongers. Mayor Adams, our community is not stupid. Your actions speak louder than your words, and your continued flirtation with right wing supremacists is unacceptable. We are demanding three things, first, that you denounce Kalal Hindustani and the organizers who are bringing her to our city. Second, that you apologize to New Yorkers for platforming Hindu supremacists in order to raise money for your campaign, and third, that you commit your office to participating in trainings on Hindu supremacy and its dangers to the South Asian American diaspora in New York at a time when Muslim New Yorkers are facing alarming levels of discrimination, hate, speech and violence, it is pivotal that our mayor make it clear that all New Yorkers deserve safety. I'd now like to welcome Hussein yadavary from the Muslim community network to say a few words

Husein Yataberry
Muslim Community Network

Good afternoon. My name is Husein Yataberry. I'm the Executive Director of Muslim Community Network. We are here today because we believe New York City must stand firmly on the side of justice, inclusion and accountability, while we're glad to hear the mayor is no longer, no longer attended the event featuring Kalal Hindustani. This moment calls for more than a quiet withdrawal. It calls for reflection responsibility and a public stand against hate. Kajal Hindustani is not merely controversial. She is a dangerous voice of Hindu supremacy. She has openly incited violence against Muslims and Christians, spread conspiracy theories and call for economic boycotts of non Hindus. Her hate filled rhetoric has caused real harm, and her presence should not be legitimized by city leadership. By initially agreeing to participate in this event, City Hall failed to exercise the due diligence and the moral clarity required for public office. This is not an isolated incident in 2024 City Hall and the mayors are. Office extended support to supremacist celebration of Ram Mandir and only withdrew at the last minute with public pressure. These repeated missteps reflect a troubling pattern, one that signals a disregard for the pain these actions caused to South Asian Muslim Christians, Sikh and Dalit New Yorkers. Our communities deserve better. We call on City Hall to publicly denounce Kadri Hindustani and her bigotry, apologize to the communities harmed by the Association and the silence that followed, commit to anti supremacy training developed in true partnership with impacted communities and beyond this moment, we urge City Hall to build deeper, sustained partnerships with diverse faith and community based organizations, not just for the optics, but for real guidance on who and what the city stands for. New York cannot claim to be a city for all, while elevating voices of hate. We will continue to show and speak out and organize until that promise of a just, inclusive city becomes a reality. No hate in New York. That's gonna be a chance. No hate in New York. Don't hate him. No hate him. Thank you.

Vrinda Jagota

Thank you so much. That was very powerful. Next we'll have Prachi patanger from India Civil Watch International speak. Thank you.

Prachi Patankar
India Civil Watch International

Hello. I'm Prachi Patankar, representing India Civil Watch International, and also convener of the Savera Coalition. United against supremacy, we stand here in solidarity with multi faith, anti cast organizations, representing diverse faiths and ideologies, representing Christian, Hindu, Sikh, Muslim and Jewish New Yorkers, all of whom stand together for a peaceful and secular city. We welcome Mayor Adams decision to withdraw from the event featuring Kajal Hindustani. This move is a crucial step in upholding the values of our city. As Kajal Hindustani has a documented history of promoting supremacist politics, and has called for the violence against Muslims and Christians in India and created a climate of fear and division. Mayor Adams' reversal shows us that we must and first do no harm in aiding violent hatred, and that communities and media and officials must hold our officials accountable to do no harm to our communities. Hateful language, bigotry and the violence it fuels have absolutely no place in New York City. Our city stands as a vibrant tapestry of millions of people from diverse faiths, spiritualities and traditions. This city believes in mutual respect and understanding and not in propagation of hate. New York City has a long tradition of diverse diasporic communities working together across all faiths and nationalities, opposing attempts to divide us with hate. This is a victory with by a broad civic coalitions in coming together to ask Mayor Adams to withdraw, and media and other officials must continue to hold these top officials accountable in defense of the best of New York City's diverse democracy spirit, at a time when supremacist politics are tragically on the rise globally, and it is particularly alarming to witness Hindu supremacist actors and networks increasingly aligning with white supremacist and far right groups in the United States. Platforming a Hindu supremacist leaders does nothing but amplify and embolden supremacist politics of all kinds and legitimate, dangerous ideologies threat that threaten the secular fabric of our city and society, we are deeply disappointed by Mayor America offices attempts to obscure the fact that this invitation was accepted without proper due diligence. This lack of scrutiny allowed a purveyor of hate to nearly gain a platform in our city, demonstrating a significant oversight that must be addressed. Platforming hateful ideologies directly jeopardizes the safety and well being of our communities. Mr. Adams must be vocally condemned commit to ensuring that such a lapse of judgment is not repeated. We also demand that Mr. Adams publicly condemned the rhetoric as caused by Kal Hindustani and other Hindu nationalist groups in the US. It sends a dangerous message that such views are tolerated when in fact, they must be vehemently rejected. A clear and forceful condemnation from the mayor is essential to demonstrate that New York City will not tolerate any form of religious bigotry or incitement to violence. We will continue to build on this victory that Mayor Adams did withdraw in response to the call from diverse organizations representing New Yorkers, diverse hate. The device of hate comes from certain minority, minority, undemocratic. Our operatives, New York City's diverse constituencies say no to this hate. We will continue to build on this to affirm New York City's proud heritage of interfaith harmony, and we must hold top leaders accountable as all hate feeds other hate and all harmony feeds broader harmony. Thank you.

Vrinda Jagota

Thank you. Prachi for those words. Next we have Aly Azhar from Emgage

Aly Azhar
Emgage

Good afternoon, everyone. I want to first start off by thanking Sunita and brinda for your diligence and hard work and for all the amazing organizers who came together in a powerful coalition in the past week to hold Mayor Eric Adams accountable, my name is Ali Azar and I stand before you today representing engage action, a Muslim advocacy organization which supports and advocates for strengthening our pluralistic democracy and protecting human rights at home and abroad. I speak to you this afternoon while grounded in those very values about the dangerous rise of religious bigotry in our politics right here in New York City, perpetuated by the current mayor, Eric Adams. Mayor Adams recently agreed to appear alongside a known Hindu nationalist, an extremist who openly calls for violence and boycotting of Muslims, only to back out when public outcry ensued. We are relieved that Mayor Adams has withdrawn his attendance of this event. However, we're concerned that he still chose to attend a fundraiser hosted by leaders of the organization that invited the hateful Hindu nationalist Kalal Hindustani. What Mayor Adams should do is condemn the groups and the leaders such as Kalal Hindustani who are responsible for the atrocities that Muslims in India are experiencing on a routine basis. This isn't just politics. It's pandering, at best, to hateful groups, and it must end. We, at mg action demand leaders who uplift every New Yorker, regardless of faith or racial or ethnic background. We hold him accountable by ensuing Muslim voices aren't tokenized or silenced. Assembly Member Zoran Mamdani, a Muslim young progressive leader embodies the diversity and resiliency of New York City, and yet, following his historic primary when he has faced a torrent of hateful and Islamophobic smears, and Mayor Adams has only fueled this hateful rhetoric to his own comments and associations with such extremist groups. This only highlights his divisive method of governance and campaigning instead of fighting for working families, Mayor Adams is attending fundraisers organized by Maga donors, instead of promoting unity. Mayor Adams is running a campaign of exclusion and division instead of leading by example, Mayor Adams is aligning himself with hateful groups. This kind of rhetoric isn't just offensive, it's dangerous. It endangers the lives of Muslims in New York City and all over the United States. It weaponizes Fear and marginalizes entire communities as Muslims, immigrants and people of color. We cannot allow bigotry to be normalized in our civic discourse. New York thrives because of its diversity. Let's double down not drown out the voices of our Muslim sisters and brothers. We demand better from our leaders, because our faith and our future deserve nothing less. Thank you.

Vrinda Jagota

Thank you. Aly, that was very powerful. Next we will have Reverend Mira Salani Joyner from Riverside Church, speak

Rev. Mira Sawlani-Joyner
Riverside Church

Good afternoon, beloveds. I am Rev. Mira Sawlani, I am the Minister of Justice, advocacy and change at the Riverside Church in the city of New York. I come here today accompanied by my youngest daughter, a proud Black and Asian American child born in the city, proud to call New York home. And we are here because we believe in a New York City that doesn't just tolerate differences, but treasures. It a city where, even in messy and imperfect ways, we work hard to preserve and protect inter religious and intercultural diversity. This is what makes New York City unique. This is what makes New York City Beautiful, and this is what makes it feel safe and sacred to raise a child in a place where a person, regardless of race, religion or identity, is treated with dignity and respect, but Mayor Adams your initial decision to accept an invitation to an event honoring Kajal Hindustani, a figure known for violent anti Muslim and anti Christian rhetoric, is deeply troubling, though you have since withdrawn from the event. You have yet to contend her bigotry. You have yet to speak out against the hate that she speaks. You have yet to hold accountable the organization that gave her a platform, and your silence speaks volumes.

As a Christian minister and a member of the Indian American community, I want to be clear, this is not about faith. This is not about heritage. It is not about cultural pride. This is allowed. Is about hate being allowed to masquerade as community leadership. It is about religious hate being given legitimacy by our own mayor. Scripture tells us, in Proverbs 31 that we must speak out and give voice to those who are voiceless, that we must speak for the rights of all who are destitute. And Jesus warns us in Matthew 15, that honoring God with our lips while our heart is far from justice is simply not enough, and this moment calls for more than just political calculation. It calls for moral courage. So Mayor Adams, we urge you condemn Kalal Hindustani, hateful speech, disavow religious nationalism and supremacist ideologies in all its forms. Make it clear that New York City will not allow for hateful speech and imported hate to be platformed here because the New York that my daughter is growing up in the New York that so many of us love is one where diversity is a sacred gift from God, a sacred grip that we must protect. So let us protect it. Let us proclaim it. Let us build a city that reflects the beloved community we know that it can be Thank you.

Vrinda Jagota

Thank you, Reverend. You know that was very beautiful. Next we'll have Rabbi Abby Stein from Rabbis for Ceasefire

Rabbi Abby Stein
Rabbis for Ceasefire

My name is Abby Stein. I'm a rabbi here in New York City, and I'm a member of Rabbis For Ceasefire, as well as the Jewish Voices for Peace Rabbinical Council. We're here today for something that I want to say, and you've heard so much with some of the other speakers, and I'm not going to apologize for saying that. I think you all have been too nice to Mayor Adams. This isn't the first time we're running into a similar message. I was there a few years ago at when he hosted his interfaith breakfast and felt the need to attack separation of church and state in New York City at a public event. When I originally heard and I got from my dear friend Sunita, who I spent 10 days just this past summer in Palestine, traveling around as part of industry human rights in collaboration with Rabbi ceasefire and Christians for ceasefire. I mean, she sent originally, this poster that of this event that Mayor Adams was planning to attend. I wish I could say that I was surprised, because I so unfortunately, wasn't so much of the red rhetoric that I've looked up, I will admit to have been aware a lot of Hindustani kind of like rhetoric, but I had the unfortunate capacity of the past few days to read so much more of this hate, and it is, sadly so familiar, Because the same kind of ideas that support Hindu supremacy are the ones that support Jewish supremacy in Palestine, are the ones that support white Christian nationalism and supremacy here in New York and across this country, when we say statements like, no one is safe till everyone is safe, no one is free to everyone is free, They are not just moral statements, which they are morally correct statements.

It is also a reality. So much of our work at rabbis the ceasefire has been about building multi faith coalitions, including with Hindus for human rights and including with Muslims and Christians and secular people and people of every religious and non religious background, because we know that we are only safe when we build this city in this country together, when we speak up together to fight back against dangerous and violent rhetoric, whether it is in India or in Palestine or in Israel or all over Europe or in The United States, these ideas that are trying to pit one group of people against another, very often trying to pit groups of marginalized people against one another, and most importantly, when they're trying to take a dominant group and a group majority group trying to control, demonize or prosecute minority. Parties living in their own country. I have been in New Yorker my whole life, and all four of my grandparents, my father, as well, came here as refugees. New York has always been a city where our strength is in our diversity. our strength is that in the streets of New York, people of so many different backgrounds, who in other places around the world don't get to come together, get to come together, to learn from each other, with each other, to live with each other and to build together.

To see the mayor of New York City originally agreed to sit down and to attend an event that is celebrating a Hindu nationalist is morally wrong, corrupt, unacceptable, but also stabbing a dagger into the essence of what it is to be a New Yorker, of what it is to be part of this beautiful, diverse society. Yes, we're grateful that he decided not to attend that at the same time. I'm thinking that he would have made the same decision if it wasn't an election year, if we didn't just have a Democratic nominee who said very clearly that if the Indian President will be here, he would not be meeting with him, because he knows that he is facing Mayor Adams. Knows that he facing the people of New York who will not accept nationalism and supremacy, and at the same time we are we deserve an apology. We deserve public statements. We deserve better than him going and sitting down at a fundraiser with the people who try to organize the same event. This is all related, because we are all related, and we're all in this together. Thank you.

I want to read a statement also on behalf of Jewish Voices for Peace:  Jewish Voices for Peace, New York City is honored to stand with Hindus for human rights and calling on Eric Adams to rescind his support of Hindu nationalist Kajal Hindustan, who has called Muslims parasites as anti Zionist Jews. Stand against ethnonationalism everywhere, and we know that Jewish and Muslim safety is intertwined. Bigotry, Islamophobia and Hindu nationalism have no place in New York City, and they especially have no place in City Hall. We demand that Eric Adams apologize for his initial involvement in this event.

Vrinda Jagota 

Thank you for those words. Thank you to all our speakers for coming in the heat and speaking so meaningfully and from the heart, and for saying, for saying what needed to be said. There were a number of other speakers who, due to terrible flooding yesterday, were not able to make it. Last night, we're not able to make it, so I will, but they all said statements which I will now be reading as well. 

Vrinda Jagota (reading statements from other Coalition Organizations)

So here's the first one from Sikh Coalition. The Sikh community is one of too many groups that remain under threat from hate crimes and discrimination at home, as well as transnational repression from abroad. New York City in particular, has been an epicenter of the latter, with the Government of India and Hindutva driven actors credibly accused of plotting assassination attempts against six, working to suppress sick, sick free six, free speech and advocacy efforts and more. Given all of these pressing issues, it is unconscionable that anyone in elected office, whether in New York City or elsewhere, would volunteer to appear alongside precisely the kind of voices that continue to spew the inflammatory rhetoric that drives hate and bias. The mayor of New York City must be willing to stand against hate at every turn, rather than endorse embrace or even tolerate it. 

Our next statement is from  Aminta Kilawan-Narine, the founder and executive director of South Queens Women's March and the co founder of Sadhana Coalition of Progressive Hindus. Mayor Adam Mayor Eric Adams owes many an apology quietly backing out of this accepted invitation is not enough. As a devout Hindu born to Guyanese immigrants, I said, I say today to all those Hindus who have co opted our peace, loving and inclusive faith, not in my name. Hindutva has raised its tentacles, both overtly and subliminally in my indo Caribbean community, and oftentimes we don't recognize this as we yearn to hold close to the traditions of our motherland, twice removed, we must rise up and stand in solidarity with our Muslim, Christian Sikh and Dalit siblings of this world, vasudevam, kutumbakam, we are one family, one human.

Next statement is from Dalit Solidarity Forum. We are deeply concerned by Eric, by Mayor Eric Adams support for an event featuring Kajal Hindusthani, a figure known for inciting hate and violence against Muslims, Christians and Dalits. Her presence in New York is not cultural. Representation, it is dangerous. We urge the mayor to publicly condemn Kalal Hindustani hateful rhetoric and to apologize to South Asian Muslim Sikh Dalit and Christian communities in New York. His office must also commit to training on Hindu supremacy in the diaspora. New York must remain a city of inclusion, not a platform for reported hate. 

And finally, we have a statement from Japneet Singh of the New York Sikh Council. My name is Japneet Singh, and I'm a proud Sikh New Yorker, a community organizer and a lifelong advocate for justice. I stand here today in unity with Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Jewish and sick New Yorkers to say loud and clear, hate has no place in our city. We are not here against any one person. We are here against an ideology of right wing extremism and violence that Kalal Hindustani represents. She's not just a controversial speaker. She's a repeat offender of hate speech, who who has incited violence in India and called for the economic boycott and social exclusion of Muslims. These are not fringe statements. They are systemic threats that echo the worst chapters of history. As a Sikh, I speak from painful experience just about two years ago, Hardeep Singh Najjar, a Sikh leader and Canadian citizen, was assassinated on Canadian soil in what Prime Minister Trudeau called an act tied to the Indian state, soon after the FBI uncovered a plot to assassinate a sick American citizen right here in the United States, a man who was exercising his protected right to dissent. Let that sink in a foreign linked assassination attempt on US soil, targeting a member of my community.

That's not just a warning. It's a wake up call. When we allow transnational hate to enter our spaces unchecked, it emboldened those who see violence as a legitimate tool of politics. It puts all of our communities, Muslim, Sikh, Dalit, Christian Hindu and others at risk. That's why Kalal Hindustani must not be platformed here. Her ideology isn't just hateful, it's dangerous, especially when given a stage in a city like New York that prides itself on being a global beacon of diversity and democracy. To our elected officials refuse to normalize hate. Do not stand besides those who dehumanize others and then deny responsibility to my fellow New Yorkers. This moment demands moral clarity, not polite neutrality.

We must protect one another. We must challenge those who bring the politics of division into our neighborhoods and to Kalal Hindustani, you may speak, but we will not be silent. We will raise. We will rise with solidarity, and we will say firmly, you do not represent our diaspora. You do not represent India, and you will not divide New York. Thank you. 

Vrinda Jagota

Thank you all so much for coming and speaking. We, at Hindus for Human Rights. really appreciate your perspectives, and you taking your time to share them with us and your very thoughtful words

FULL PRESS CONFERENCE VIDEO