New York/ New Delhi, August 29, 2026

RSS Sarsanghchalak Dr Mohan Bhagwat used his address at Madison Square Garden on Saturday to counter long-standing claims that the organisation follows an exclusionary social vision. He said the Sangh stood for building a united society without discrimination based on caste, creed or religion.

Addressing the “Universal Oneness Celebration”, Bhagwat said humanity was above all differences. Society, he added, was the basic unit of a nation and every religious group should work for its welfare and empowerment.

“If any Hindu thinks that there should be no Muslims in India, he is not a Hindu,” Bhagwat said, according to reports. The remark emerged as one of the strongest messages from an address delivered amid protests and a sharp international debate over the RSS.

Bhagwat said Hindu thought respected diversity. People could follow different faiths and traditions while remaining part of one human family. He used the image of water flowing from the sky and the Himalayas before finally reaching the ocean. The paths may be different, he said, but they lead towards a larger unity.

The programme was held at the Infosys Theatre inside Madison Square Garden. Sources claimed that more than 5,000 people from 85 cities and 39 American states participated in the event. Nearly 200 organisations were associated with the gathering, held during the RSS centenary year.

Bhagwat said Bharat had practised the philosophy of oneness for centuries. Its civilisation had accommodated different languages, cultures, customs and religious traditions without demanding that they become identical.

He also referred to the impact of foreign invasions and colonial rule on India’s history and cultural confidence. The experience, he said, had created distortions about Bharat’s identity and its civilisational values.

The RSS chief said similar misconceptions had grown around the Sangh. He urged critics, young people and those uncertain about the organisation to examine its work directly instead of relying only on political descriptions.

Bhagwat said the RSS wanted to create a society where every human being had equal dignity and opportunity. Its work, he added, was not directed against any caste or religious community. He also underlined the Sangh’s commitment to the Constitution. Bharat adopted a constitutional system after Independence and the RSS functioned within that framework, he said.

Drawing a distinction between the Sangh and electoral politics, Bhagwat said politics often involved competition, power and self-interest. The RSS was not a political party and did not seek to become another centre of political power, he added.

Its karyakartas worked among communities with the objective of strengthening society, he said. The organisation believed that national reconstruction must begin with social service and individual conduct. “Charity must begin at home” was a recurring thought in his address. Bhagwat said Bharat could not offer a message of harmony to the world without first living by those values within its own society.

He invoked Swami Vivekananda while explaining Bharat’s spiritual idea of unity. Vivekananda’s historic Chicago address in 1893 had called for acceptance among faiths and warned the world against religious intolerance.

Bhagwat also spoke about his own struggle to avoid sweets despite having high blood sugar. He said old habits were difficult to leave, but one must continue working to overcome them, no matter how long it takes. The same principle applied to social weaknesses and prejudices. Removing them required discipline, patience and sustained effort, even when change appeared slow, he added.

Bhagwat also recalled a story published in the monthly magazine Reader’s Digest. It was about an Englishman who had fallen into deep despair after being left with only 150 in his possession. He had even considered ending his life, but an unexpected turn of events changed his fortune.

He used the story to underline the value of patience and persistence. Difficult times should not force a person to give up, he said. One must continue working and pursuing the goal, as circumstances can change when hope appears to be fading.

His address came amid protests by a coalition of Muslim, Christian, Sikh and civil rights groups. The organisations accused the RSS of promoting a majoritarian idea of India and said it did not represent the entire Hindu community.

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani had also opposed the programme. He described the RSS vision as exclusionary, but acknowledged that the city might not have the legal authority to cancel a private gathering.

The Madison Square Garden address gave the RSS an opportunity to place its worldview directly before an international audience. Bhagwat used that platform to argue that cultural identity, constitutional commitment and religious diversity were not contradictory ideas.

The significance of the address, therefore, went beyond the gathering inside the venue or the protests surrounding it. It also raised a larger question: whether the RSS should be judged only through established political labels or also through the position its chief placed before the world—that humanity must remain above caste, creed and religion.