Nearly 100 elected officials and political candidates across the United States have pledged to reject campaign contributions linked to India’s Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, signalling growing political scrutiny of the organisation’s influence within the Indian diaspora.
The initiative was announced by Hindus for Human Rights Action and the South Asian American Coalition to Renew Democracy, known as SACRED Acts. Participants have committed to refusing RSS-linked donations and returning or redirecting any such contributions they discover.
Signatories reportedly include Indian-American members of Congress Ro Khanna and Pramila Jayapal, Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, US Representative Haley Stevens and New York congressional nominee Brad Lander.
The announcement follows RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s controversial appearance at Madison Square Garden in New York on Saturday, August 29. The event, called the “Universal Oneness Celebration”, was promoted by organisers as a gathering dedicated to interfaith unity and shared humanity.
Bhagwat told the gathering that diversity should be “accepted, respected and preserved” and said anyone who believed Muslims should be expelled from India could not call themselves Hindu.
His message was met with scepticism by civil rights and diaspora organisations, which say the RSS’s record and its political influence in India contradict the language of pluralism presented at the event.
The RSS describes itself as a Hindu-centred cultural and civilisational movement dedicated to uniting Hindu society. It rejects allegations that it promotes intolerance.
Human rights organisations, however, describe it as the ideological parent of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party and accuse the broader network of organisations associated with it — commonly known as the Sangh Parivar — of advancing an exclusionary Hindu majoritarian project.
Modi was an RSS pracharak, or full-time organiser, before entering electoral politics through the BJP.
Khanna to redirect $6,600 donation
Khanna said he would give away a US$6,600 contribution received from a billionaire donor described as pro-MAGA and having ties to the RSS.
“I’m proud to lead on this pledge and reassert my commitment to overcome the RSS and their attacks on global democracy,” Khanna said in a statement reported by Zeteo.
Khanna linked the decision to his previous pledge to reject money from the pro-Israel lobby group AIPAC and its affiliates. He said politicians should demonstrate consistency in rejecting financial influence associated with movements they consider harmful to democracy or human rights.
The organisations behind the pledge say it is intended to create public accountability rather than merely secure symbolic declarations. Hindus for Human Rights Action’s published endorsement criteria require candidates to reject Hindu nationalism and “any money tied to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh”. They also assess candidates’ positions on caste discrimination, religious nationalism, immigration and human rights in South Asia.
SACRED Acts says its work includes tracking the ways wealthy South Asian Americans use political donations and institutional influence to promote what it describes as extremist or anti-democratic causes.
“Over the past decade, in Illinois alone, individuals tied to the RSS have funnelled at least $2.5 million into political campaigns across both parties,” SACRED Acts executive director Pushkar Sharma said in the announcement.
“Today we announce a multifaith and multiracial coalition of nearly 100 political leaders who stand with us to say that American democracy will not be bought by the super-rich and their extremist agendas.”
The figure and the classification of donors as RSS-linked have been presented by the campaign organisers and have not been independently verified by NRI Affairs.
Bhagwat visit draws protests and sanctions call
Bhagwat’s New York appearance attracted protesters from Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Dalit and secular organisations outside Madison Square Garden.
Before the event, 61 interfaith and civil society organisations signed an open letter opposing it, according to Hindus for Human Rights. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani also publicly rejected the RSS’s ideology, although he acknowledged that the city lacked the power to cancel a private gathering.
“The vision of India that I was taught by my family … was of a pluralistic society, of a secular republic that believed in the belonging of each and every person who was from India,” Mamdani said.
He described the growth of a movement based on an exclusionary conception of India as “incredibly troubling”. The organisers defended the celebration as an inclusive event supported by more than 200 Hindu-American organisations. The Associated Press reported that about 5,000 people were expected to attend.
The bipartisan US Commission on International Religious Freedom also urged the American government to consider targeted sanctions against RSS members and Indian officials it alleged were complicit in religious-freedom violations. Commission chair Asif Mahmood called for Bhagwat’s visa to be revoked and for him to be barred from entering the country.
The commission’s recommendations are advisory and were not acted upon by the US government. India’s Ministry of External Affairs rejected the allegations, describing the commission as biased and lacking credibility. The Indian government and the BJP deny discriminating against religious minorities and say government welfare programs benefit citizens irrespective of faith. Reuters reported that the RSS also disputes allegations of intolerance.
Scrutiny of diaspora political influence grows
The pledge marks a shift in how some progressive politicians are responding to Hindu nationalist networks in the United States. For years, critics have accused RSS-aligned organisations and wealthy supporters of cultivating relationships across both major political parties while presenting Hindutva as synonymous with Hindu identity.
The US pledge comes close on the heels of a landmark peer-reviewed study examining the “quiet mainstreaming” of transnational Hindutva in Australia. As reported by NRI Affairs, researchers Felix Pal, Priya Chacko and Nisha Thapliyal found that Sangh-linked organisations had gained public funding, access to government advisory bodies and a role in religious instruction in Australian public schools. While the US initiative focuses on campaign donations, the Australian study documents a broader pattern of political and institutional access through which Hindu nationalist networks have built legitimacy across the diaspora.
Hindus for Human Rights rejects that conflation. The organisation says its opposition to the RSS is grounded in Hindu commitments to pluralism, equality and nonviolence, and that criticism of Hindutva should not be confused with hostility towards Hindus.
Although the pledge is unlikely to end the political activity of RSS-associated networks, it creates a mechanism through which campaign donations can be publicly examined and candidates asked to explain whether they will retain them.
Its launch immediately after Bhagwat’s high-profile New York appearance suggests that the RSS’s efforts to expand its international standing may also be generating a more organised political opposition within the diaspora.
