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New York : New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has said he is in \u201cdeep opposition\u201d to the planned event at Madison Square Garden where RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat is scheduled to address his Indian followers, but noted that the city government may not have jurisdiction to cancel the \u201cprivate\u201d event.<\/p>\n
According to Kashmir Media Service, Mamdani made the remarks at a news conference on Tuesday while responding to questions on the RSS programme and protests against it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t support the rally, but I don\u2019t know if the city has any jurisdiction on cancelling a private event,\u201d Mamdani said. The event is scheduled for August 29. Bhagwat arrived in the US earlier in the day as part of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh\u2019s centenary-year global outreach programme. During his stay in New York, he is scheduled to participate in the \u2018Universal Oneness\u2019 programme and address a gathering of around 5,000 people at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI also stand here as the first Indian-American Mayor in our city\u2019s history, and my mother\u2019s family is all still in India,\u201d Mamdani said. He said the vision of India he was taught by his family was that of \u201ca pluralistic society, of a secular republic that believed in the belonging of each and every person who was from India.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd it has been incredibly troubling to see the rise of a movement that is predicated on an exclusionary vision of any country, frankly,\u201d Mamdani said. \u201cIt 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\u2019re from.\u201d<\/p>\n
Several interfaith and civil rights organisations, including Hindus for Human Rights, the Indian American Muslim Council and the Interfaith Centre of New York, held a press conference outside New York City Hall opposing Bhagwat\u2019s appearance at MSG and urged the venue to cancel the event.<\/p>\n
The \u2018Universal Oneness Celebration\u2019, organised by the AHEAD Forum which is hosting Bhagwat, said in a social media post that the RSS chief will attend the event in New York on August 29<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New York : New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has said he is in \u201cdeep opposition\u201d to the planned event at Madison Square Garden where RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat is scheduled to address his Indian followers, but noted that the city government may not have jurisdiction to cancel the \u201cprivate\u201d event. According to Kashmir Media …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":208856,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-208852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-india"],"yoast_head":"\n