At New York event, Bhagwat preaches ‘oneness in diversity’ amid a storm of protests

On the morning of August 29, more than 5,000 people of Indian-origin trickled into New York’s Madison Square Garden to see one man take the stage: Mohan Bhagwat, the chief of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the ideological parent of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

The event was titled the “Universal Oneness Celebration”. But outside the arena, there were two starkly different worlds.

On one side of the entrance sidewalk, attendees in festive clothes, saffron caps and rakhis took photographs in front of the Madison Square Garden logo. In one corner, a man played the dhol and sang a rap-like version of Jana Gana Mana. “Being woke is a joke,” he shouted. “We love Modi ji,” he continued, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as some others joined in to shout “Vande Mataram”.

On the other side stood coalitions protesting Bhagwat’s appearance on grounds that the RSS and BJP fostered a climate of hate and violence against religious minorities in India. On Wednesday, echoing the same concerns, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom had urged the Trump administration to revoke Bhagwat’s visa.

But the demonstrations on Saturday, organised by groups including Hindus for Human Rights and the Indian American Muslim Council, seldom bothered the attendees, many of whom had travelled from far and beyond...

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