Mamdani gets called out over Pak Day after criticising RSS Chief's NY event

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani's reaction to an upcoming event featuring RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has sparked a debate over pluralism and equal treatment. Mamdani has opposed the event, calling the RSS's vision "exclusionary". His position on Bhagwat's address has now drawn criticism from some voices, who have pointed to Mamdani's recent appearance at a Pakistan Independence Day celebration in New York.

The critics also questioned whether Mamdani's argument about pluralism is being applied consistently.

Mamdani said on Tuesday that he did not support Bhagwat's August 29 programme at Madison Square Garden, where the RSS chief is expected to address about 5,000 members of the Indian diaspora. But he stopped short of calling for the event to be cancelled, saying he was unsure whether the city had jurisdiction over a private event.

Mamdani, who is New York City's first Indian-American mayor, said his understanding of India came from a family tradition of seeing the country as a pluralistic, secular republic where everyone belonged. He said the emergence of a movement built around an exclusionary idea of the country was troubling and that he opposed it both as an Indian-American and as mayor of a city that, in his view, should welcome people irrespective of colour, religion or faith.

It was that position that prompted a series of reactions online, with critics focussing less on Bhagwat's scheduled event and more on what they saw as a question of consistency.

Sandeep Neel, an X user who comments on geopolitics, wrote from his verified account, "Bit rich coming from NYC Mayor Mamdani, who joined a mob of Khalistani-Islamist radicals in Times Square calling Hindus 'ha*am**' and abusing Hindu deity Lord Sri Rama."

A former research and policy analyst at Delhi-based think tank, Citizens' Foundation for Policy Solutions (CFPS), Amana Begam Ansari, who is also a columnist, drew a connection between Mamdani's opposition to Bhagwat and his participation in a Pakistan Independence Day event.

"Interesting that Mamdani opposes Bhagwat's rally because he rejects 'exclusionary' vision rather than the secular, pluralistic India he knew. Yet days earlier he comfortably attended Pakistan's Independence Day celebration at the Allama Iqbal Community Center, named after a thinker who rejected territorial nationalism and advocated a distinct Muslim political homeland."

Mamdani did attend a Pakistan Day community event at the Allama Iqbal Community Center in Brooklyn earlier this month. In remarks there, he thanked members of the Pakistani community and spoke about their contribution to New York City.

"If religious nationalism is the problem, shouldn’t that principle be applied consistently?" Ansari added.

Another critic, advocate Zeba Zoariah, focussed on Mamdani's own acknowledgement that the city might lack the authority to intervene. "...You don't get to preach inclusion while treating your opponents’ right to assemble as a jurisdictional inconvenience."

The event, organised by AHEAD Forum under the banner "Universal Oneness Celebration", is part of the RSS's centenary-year global outreach.

Bhagwat arrived in the US on Tuesday and is also scheduled to travel to Canada and the UK. Several civil rights and interfaith organisations, including Hindus for Human Rights, the Indian American Muslim Council and the Interfaith Centre of New York, have opposed his appearance and urged Madison Square Garden to cancel the programme.

The criticism also comes against the backdrop of Mamdani's earlier position on another foreign political figure. During his mayoral campaign, Mamdani said he would seek to enforce the Criminal Court's arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if Netanyahu came to New York.

Mamdani later acknowledged that the city did not have the legal authority to arrest him, while urging federal authorities to act instead.

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