US faith leaders say they were unaware Bhagwat would attend New York event

Two US-based religious leaders who shared the stage with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat at a New York event on Saturday said they had not been made aware of his participation when they agreed to attend.

The event, titled “One World One Humanity”, was held at Madison Square Garden and drew around 5,000 Hindu Americans and Hindu non-resident Indians. Bhagwat, who heads the RSS, the ideological parent of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, was the main speaker, Scroll.in reported.

Adriene Thorne, a minister at Riverside Church, said she was “duped” into attending the programme. In a social media post on Wednesday, she said the World Council of Religious Leaders had approached her repeatedly over a period of six weeks and presented the gathering as an interfaith event.

Thorne said she was not informed that Bhagwat would be the central figure or that the RSS was involved. She also said she had not been told about AHEAD or any other organisation associated with Hindu nationalism. She characterised her participation as a “terrible mistake” and accused the organisers of withholding important information.

The American Hindus for Engagement and Dialogue Forum (AHEAD), which was among the organisers, describes itself on its website as a nonprofit group working to promote civic engagement among communities in the United States.

Shamsi Ali, another interfaith leader who attended the event, similarly said he had not been informed that Bhagwat would be the chief guest. He said the official invitation and his discussions with the organisers did not disclose Bhagwat’s role.

Ali said he had received the invitation from Bawa Jain and Dileepji Kumar of Yoga International USA. However, he said the organisers’ lack of transparency left him feeling deceived and entrapped. He added that he would have turned down the invitation had he known the programme was intended to honour Bhagwat.

Ali also questioned Bhagwat’s message of peace at the gathering, describing it as insincere. He argued that such statements did not correspond with what he sees as the situation in India, where he alleged that Muslims and other minorities face discrimination and violence because of the ideology associated with Bhagwat.