Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat. File
| Photograph Credit score: Reuters
A U.S. panel on non secular freedom has expressed concern over RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s go to to the U.S. and urged sanctions towards members of the organisation, which it described because the ideological guardian of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Get together (BJP).
Mohan Bhagwat, chief of the RSS, is on a U.S. go to and is scheduled to talk at a Saturday (August 29, 2026) occasion in New York Metropolis.
“We urge the U.S. authorities to think about focused sanctions towards RSS members and Indian officers complicit in non secular freedom violations, together with revoking the visa issued to Mohan Bhagwat,” Asif Mahmood, chair of the U.S. Fee on Worldwide Non secular Freedom, stated in an announcement on Wednesday (August 26).
USCIRF is a bipartisan physique of the U.S. authorities that screens non secular freedom around the globe and makes coverage suggestions, which aren’t binding. Washington has not imposed sanctions after latest suggestions.
The Exterior Affairs Ministry dismissed the panel’s assertions, casting USCIRF as biased towards India.
Rights teams say the RSS promotes majoritarian ideology fueling intolerance in the direction of minorities.
The RSS disputes being illiberal and says it’s a “Hindu-centric civilisational, cultural motion” that desires to take India “to the top of glory,” together with by uniting Hindus.
Revealed – August 27, 2026 07:57 am IST
