Trinamool Congress MP Saugata Roy stated on Wednesday that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s opposition to an upcoming event featuring Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat was understandable. Roy asserted that New York City is a multi-religious city where the RSS’s ideology would not be effective.
Speaking to reporters, Roy said, “New York is a multi-religious city, where RSS’s theory will not work, and this is the reason they might oppose it.”
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The remarks followed New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s declaration that he does not support the RSS’s upcoming event in the city, although he was uncertain whether the municipal administration had the authority to cancel a privately organized gathering.
“I don’t support the rally, but I don’t know if the city has any jurisdiction over canceling a private event,” Mamdani said during a press conference.
During the same press conference, Mamdani discussed his Indian-American background and his perspective on India. He stated, “I also stand here as the first Indian American mayor in our city’s history. My mother’s family is all still in India. The vision of India that I was taught by my family, and the one that I grew up being very familiar with, was of a pluralistic society — a secular republic that believed in the belonging of each and every person who was from India.”
He added, “It has been incredibly troubling to see the rise of a movement that is predicated on an exclusionary vision of any country, frankly. And so it is one that I find myself in deep opposition to — not only as an Indian American, but also as the mayor of a city that believes deeply in the belonging of each and every person, no matter their colour, their creed, their religion, their faith, wherever they’re from.”
The comments by Mamdani came as RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat arrived in New York on Tuesday local time, marking the first stop on a three-nation outreach tour covering the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Bhagwat was received with a traditional tilak on arrival and is scheduled to address the Indian diaspora at the “Universal Oneness Celebrations” at Madison Square Garden on August 29. The event is associated with the RSS’s centenary year and is timed around Raksha Bandhan.