India
Mohan Bhagwat’s appearance in New York was never going to be just another diaspora event. The RSS chief arrived in the United States at a time when the organisation he leads is facing intense international scrutiny over its position on religious minorities. Just days before Bhagwat’s New York event, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom called for targeted sanctions against RSS members and urged the US government to revoke Bhagwat’s visa. USCIRF has repeatedly raised concerns about religious-freedom conditions in India and alleged attacks and discrimination against minorities. Then came New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Mamdani publicly opposed the Madison Square Garden event, describing the RSS’s vision as exclusionary. So Bhagwat entered New York facing a very specific international question: What exactly does the RSS mean when it talks about a Hindu Rashtra — and what does that vision mean for India's Muslims? His answer was unusually direct. He said that if a Hindu believes there should be no Muslims in Bharat, that person ceases to be a Hindu. In this explainer, we try to analyse his answer and the new direction the RSS is exploring as it enters its second century after formation
