NY City Council Members, Congressional Nominee, Over 40 Civil Rights Groups Urge Madison Square Garden To Cancel Event

NYC Council Members Shahana Hanif, Lincoln Restler, and Julie Won, and Democratic Party Congressional Nominee Brad Lander signed a statement from the Indian American Muslim Council urging Madison Square Garden to cancel the event.

NEW YORK CITY, August 25, 2026 — NYC Council Member Shahana Hanif and Democratic Party Congressional Nominee and former City Comptroller Brad Lander joined over four dozen civil society organizations at a press conference held at the New York City Hall, in strong opposition to a controversial hate event being held on August 29 in New York City featuring Mohan Bhagwat, the leader of India’s Hindu supremacist paramilitary, the RSS.

“We must not allow Mohan Bhagwat to use this prestigious venue of our city as his organisation is known for fomenting violence against Sikhs, Muslims, Christians,” Lander said. “I’m here as a proud Jewish New Yorker to say that Madison Square Garden should not allow the spewing of hate” from Bhagwat.

 

 

Recalling a Nazi rally held at Madison Square Garden in 1939, “tens of thousands cheering religious hatred and violence of a very similar sort to what Mohan Bhagwat and the RSS are proposing,” Lander said: MSG said it would not host hate-filled, bigoted rallies again. It should not host this one.” 

Shahana Hanif, New York City Council Member, said: “Madison Square Garden should not provide a platform to Mohan Bhagwat and a movement with a documented history of persecution and violence against religious minorities. I stand with the Indian American Muslim Council and communities across our city in calling on MSG to cancel this event. Hate has no home in New York City.”

Lander, Hanif and Council Members Lincoln Restler and Julie Won also signed a statement from the Indian American Muslim Council urging Madison Square Garden to cancel the event.

Safa Ahmed, Board Member, Indian American Muslim Council, said: “The RSS is a Nazi-inspired paramilitary group aimed at turning India from a secular democracy into a Hindu ethnostate. We call on New York City to make it known that Mohan Bhagwat is not welcome here.” 

Kylie Madhav from Hindus for Human Rights said: “As New Yorkers, as Hindus and as people of conscience, we refuse to stand by silently while far-right hatemongers misuse our religion to propagate their politics of division.”

Sarita Pandey from Save America From Hindutva said: “Madison Square Garden should not lend its name, prestige and credibility to this [Hindutva] project.”

Rev. Peter Cook from Faith Beyond Religious Nationalism said: “We reject the idea that Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Jews, or any other minority should be treated as second-class citizens.”

Japneet Singh from New York Sikh Council said: “This is about whether New York will stand for democracy, pluralism, and religious freedom — or whether we will give a platform to an ideology that places religious extremism above equality.”

Referring to RSS, Kshipra Uke from Dalit Solidarity Forum said, it operates through “deceiving front organizations” in the US, that “pump millions of dollars across the ocean to channel a violent, casteist, and fundamentalist agenda in India.”

Pieter Friedrich, author and journalist, said: “The RSS cloaks its legacy of death in the rhetoric of ‘universal oneness,’ and their chief is coming here specifically to launder a hundred years of butchery on the most famous stage in America. The blood on the RSS’s hands will stain everyone who welcomes them.”

Kshama Sawant, former Seattle City Council member, said: “I thank Hindus for Human Rights, the Indian American Muslim Council, and other organizations who are demanding that Bhagwat’s event be shut down.”

IAMC calls on Madison Square Garden to cancel the August 29 event and further urges American institutions, elected officials, and community leaders to reject invitations from extremist, fascist groups that weaponize hate and violence. 

The call to cancel has already been endorsed by 48 organizations: 18 Million Rising, Arab Resource & Organizing Center (AROC), ASATA, Asian Refugees United, Aurora Commons LLC, Boston Coalition for Palestine, Boston South Asian Coalition (BSAC), Coalition of Seattle Indian Americans (CSIA), Christians for a Free Palestine, Dalit Solidarity Forum, Democratic Socialists of America, DRUM – Desis Rising Up & Moving, Ensaaf, Equitas Forum USA, Faith Beyond Religious Nationalism, Grassroots Asians Rising, Human Agenda, India Coalition, International Bahujan Organization, Jews for Racial & Economic Justice (JFREJ), Justice For All, Lal Morich, Middle Church, Movement for Black Lives, Muslims for Progressive Values, New York Sikh Council, PYM Boston, Public Accountability Initiative, Religions for Peace USA, SACRED (South Asian American Coalition to Renew Democracy), Rabbis for Ceasefire, Sakhi for South Asian Survivors, Sadhana: Coalition of Progressive Hindus, San José Peace & Justice Center, Save America from Hindutva, South Asian Collective of Houston, South Asian Network, the Sikh Coalition, Stop Operation Kagar Coalition – NYC, Tech Justice Law, The Riverside Church, The Shakti Mission, The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, The Interfaith Center of New York, The Muslim Public Affairs Council, Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC), Unite for Peace NYC, and VietUnity Bay Area.