The RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s proposed US visit, the functions he is likely to attend, and the men and organisations behind these events are reportedly obscure for many reasons, mounting criticism over the clandestine nature of the visit and its likely link with the MAGA camp.
Bhagwat’s three-nation overseas tour, planned as part of the outreach programmes as the RSS celebrates its centenary year, will begin on 25 August, taking him to the US, Canada and the UK, with the invitations from local organisations, as claimed by the RSS, however, reportedly found to have been arranged through organisations and individuals with whom the RSS has close and longstanding links, according to a report by the anti-supremacy platform Savera.
The focus of the Savera report, titled Fibs, Fronts & Fixers, is on the concealed organisational machinery behind Bhagwat’s overseas outreach.
One of the key hosts of Bhagwat’s event at Madison Square Garden in New York on 29 August, the American Hindus for Engagement and Dialogue (AHEAD) Forum, formed in 2025 and describing itself as an American non-profit, has been identified by Savera as part of an RSS offshoot network involving the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS) and the Foundation for India and Indian Diaspora Studies (FIIDS), The Wire reported.
According to the report, AHEAD Forum was initially registered at the address of Khanderao Kand, a veteran RSS and HSS figure and FIIDS founder-president, who was later replaced as the organisation’s principal agent by Harish Kandpal, described by Savera as a FIIDS colleague.
Though identified in various records as the HSS’s global coordinator, Saumitra Gokhale’s designation as a “yoga instructor”, with an annual salary of $36,000 as per official documents, has raised questions, given his alleged role as the principal organiser of Bhagwat’s international itinerary, according to Savera.
Savera alleged that the designation as a “yoga instructor” did not reflect Gokhale’s actual responsibilities; instead, it described him as a senior functionary of the RSS’s Vishwa Vibhag, or overseas department, citing his extensive international travel and appearances at meetings of the RSS’s highest decision-making body as evidence of his wider organisational role.
The report argues that the apparent separation between the RSS and organisations operating abroad enables the Sangh to maintain plausible distance from activities conducted in its name or with its support.
The questions raised amid growing scrutiny over the lack of transparency surrounding the RSS’s finances, legal status, and overseas activities, particularly in connection with recent political criticism in India and international attention from the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, however, remain unanswered.