Madison Square Garden, the legendary artistic centre of New York City and a global stage for major sports and entertainment for more than 140 years, is widely regarded as the world’s most famous arena.
On Saturday afternoon, however, the event space was home to an audience that did not quite resemble Harry Styles concert-goers or Knicks fans.
Crowds of Indian and Hindu Americans of all ages, clad in bright saffron caps, kurtas, and saris, arrived from across the country to see Mohan Bhagwat, the chief of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a Hindu nationalist paramilitary group, whose affiliate organisations are driving violence against minorities in India.
Hosted by American Hindus for Engagement And Dialogue (Ahead), Saturday’s "Universal Oneness Celebration" presented itself as "an afternoon of shared teaching, cultural performance, and common ground".
I attended the event as a correspondent for Middle East Eye on Saturday. What I witnessed was a careful repackaging of an entity described by critics as the "world’s largest fascist organisation" into the language of inclusion and pluralism, as escalating communal violence in India continues to claim lives daily.
