(The Quint has consistently done in-depth reports on right-wing politics and networks. Help us do more such stories by becoming a member.)Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat is set to be hosted for a grand event titled ‘Universal Oneness Celebrations’ in New York at the Madison Square Garden on Saturday. On paper, Bhagwat is being hosted by a new, little-known body called American Hindus for Engagement and Dialogue or AHEAD. On its website, AHEAD describes itself as a non-profit that has a “non-partisan approach”, a vision to build “an inclusive future” with one of its key objectives being “interfaith dialogue.” The website does not mention RSS, nor does it reveal any association with the right-wing nationalist body. But a look into the founding body of AHEAD makes it evident that it has clear, pre-existing ties with the RSS. This is revelatory because the RSS has repeatedly insisted that it “works only in Bharat (India)” and that “the Sangh does not control, neither directly nor remotely” any foreign bodies. AHEAD was incorporated as recently as May 2025, and became tax-exempt by September. Its registration records, accessed by The Quint, show that its incorporating agent is an individual called Khanderao Kand.Who is Khanderao Kand?Kand is the founder and president of Foundation for India and Indian Diaspora Studies (FIIDS), another non-profit, which routinely organizes events to “strengthen US-India relations”, including most recently at the U.S. capitol, and has previously also hosted the External Affairs minister, S. Jaishankar. FIIDS had co-sponsored a trip of a Washington Post columnist to RSS’ centenary celebrations event in Nagpur, Maharashtra, last year. Kand, who has been described as being “intimately associated with the RSS for most of his life”, was involved in hosting PM Narendra Modi for his visit to the United States back in 2015 as well. Besides being in the RSS, Kand was also an office bearer in the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, which is widely known to be the RSS’ international wing, even as the body insists that it is an independent volunteer group. HSS has previously hosted Bhagwat, for multiple events. Older news reports document Kand as being involved in brainstorming for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) during past elections in India. Kand welcomed PM Modi in New York as recently as September 2024, and posted about it on his own instagram, along with his photos with a slew of BJP leaders. In March this year, Kand stopped being AHEAD’s principal incorporating agent, as per registration documents, and a man called Harish Kandpal took over that post. But Kandpal too is associated with the FIIDS.As per its tax filings, AHEAD has three listed directors: Sudesh Agrawal, Naresh Rajanna and Rasita Vishnuram. Vishnuram is a Senior Fellow for the Viksit Bharat Fellowship at the BlueKraft Digital Foundation, a pro-Modi digital communications platform, run by Hitesh Jain, a BJP functionary. The fellowship was launched on Modi’s birthday in 2024, for experts “within the nation and around the globe to contribute to a meaningful narrative about India.” The Quint has reached out to Kand, FIIDS, Kandpal, and AHEAD for a response. The story will be updated when there is one. Focus on RSS in the USThis event comes months after it was revealed in an investigation by Prism that the RSS had hired a major Washington D.C. lobbying firm to lobby the U.S. Congress on its behalf. Even after that revelation, RSS’ Sunil Ambekar doubled down saying it hasn’t employed any lobbying firm and that it only “works in Bharat”. Critics have expressed concern that Bhagwat’s event is aimed at increasing the RSS’ global presence, and influence in international politics.“We know that the RSS and BJP make regular global tours. The diaspora is as much, if not more, the battleground for the war between inclusive Indians and Hindutva-aligned Indians,” said Sunita Viswanath, the executive director of Hindus for Human Rights, a nonprofit group also based in the U.S. "The stakes are very high, and all of our democracies are at stake.”Others have raised questions over the lack of transparency about the event and its organisers. “This event is problematic because the RSS is being given a platform to whitewash itself as seeking “Universal Oneness,” while minorities pay the price with their lives,” said Safa Ahmed, board member of Indian American Muslim Council, a non-profit which is part of Savera, a coalition of groups trying to combat the rise of Hindu nationalism. Savera has released a report suggesting that AHEAD is another front for the RSS in the US. “If the RSS insists they only work in India, why is Mohan Bhagwat even here? His organization first sought to secretly lobby Congress, and is now organizing a propaganda event through shell entities – one of hundreds that do the RSS's dirty work in the U.S,” added Ahmed. Earlier in the week, New York city mayor Zohran Mamdani expressed that he doesn’t support the event, but it isn’t in his jurisdiction to stop it. “It is incredibly troubling to see the rise of a movement that is predicated on an exclusionary vision,” Mamdani said in a press conference. A day later, X briefly took down AHEAD’s account. After the account was restored, AHEAD posted, “We got “botted” by misguided opponents who tried to game the X algorithm and get our handle blocked.”The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), also issued a statement expressing concern over the event, saying that the BJP has enforced policies in India “that closely align with the RSS’ Hindutva ideology, inherently discriminating against religious minority communities.” The USCIRF is an independent, bipartisan federal government entity established by the U.S. Congress that monitors and makes recommendations regarding religious freedom world over. “The government has also engaged in acts of transnational repression to target religious minorities beyond its borders, including assassination and assassination attempts on members of Sikh communities in North America,” the statement further said.(Fatima Khan is a New York-based journalist. With over six years of experience as a roving reporter in India, she has covered national politics, hate crimes, gender, and social justice with a sharp investigative lens.)What Lies Behind the RSS's Doubts Over India's Vishwaguru Dream