Mohan Madhukar Bhagwat / X/@mohanbhagwat

A U.S.-based Hindu advocacy group on Aug. 20 condemned opposition by members of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat’s planned visit, warning against what it called the “normalization of anti-Hindu gatekeeping” within institutions tasked with defending religious liberty.

In a statement issued from San Ramon, California, on Aug. 20, HinduPACT accused USCIRF of targeting Hindu organizations and said its criticism of Bhagwat reflected what the group described as an “anti-Hindu” bias.

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The group specifically criticized USCIRF Chair Dr. Asif Mahmood and Commissioner Gene Mills for opposing Bhagwat’s forthcoming visit. It called their statements a smear campaign against the RSS.

“For years, USCIRF has wrapped ideological hostility in the language of religious freedom, and its latest attack on Bhagwat strips away the disguise,” it said.

“This is not scrutiny. It is an attempt to criminalize Hindu civilizational organization, stigmatize Hindu public leadership, and recast India’s majority tradition as suspect in the court of American opinion.”

The group said statements issued by Mahmood and Mills “abandon even the pretense of balance,” describing them as advocacy for what it called an anti-India pressure bloc that has spent years portraying Hindu institutions as uniquely dangerous while showing little interest in anti-Hindu hatred, temple vandalism or the civic exclusion faced by American Hindus.

“This pattern is not accidental. HinduPACT has repeatedly warned that USCIRF has become a platform for actors openly hostile to Hindu organizations and India’s democratic legitimacy,” it said.

HinduPACT also said the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) and Hindus for Human Rights (HfHR) have backed the latest campaign. “The company matters,” it said.

HinduPACT argued that the RSS should not be viewed solely through the lens of its critics and highlighted its work in areas including social service, education, relief efforts and community organization.

“To attack the RSS as inherently beyond the pale is to attack a major instrument of India’s recovery as a self-aware Hindu civilization after roughly a millennium of foreign domination,” it said.

Bhagwat will visit to the U.S. to participate in the “Universal Oneness Celebrations,” organized by American Hindus for Engagement and Dialogue (AHEAD) in New York on Aug. 29.

#MohanBhagwat’s visit is not a threat to America. The real threat is the normalization of anti-Hindu exclusion inside institutions that claim to defend liberty like @USCIRF Hindu civilization does not need permission to stand upright, and American Hindus will not accept being… pic.twitter.com/D1RURUlvUY

— HinduPACT (@HinduPACT) August 20, 2026

USCIRF’s posture is especially indefensible because it asks Americans to accept accusation as fact, the group said. Commissioner Mills has called for sanctions on RSS members allegedly responsible for violations of freedom of religion or belief, without the rigor, due process or evidentiary discipline such a demand requires, it said.

Ajay Shah, founder and chair of HinduPACT, said, “USCIRF has disgraced its mandate. When its chair speaks about India and the RSS, he sounds less like the head of a pluralistic American commission and more like an advocate for a hardened anti-Hindu narrative.”

Bhagwat leads one of the world’s most consequential Hindu organizations. He should not be met with slander scripted by CAIR, IAMC and HfHR, groups that have made a habit of treating Hindu self-assertion as extremism, Shah said.

“The deeper issue is now impossible to ignore. Every time Hindu organizations gain visibility, the same machinery activates: selective outrage, guilt by association, and a studied refusal to acknowledge anti-Hindu bias by name,” the statement said.

“The real threat is the normalization of anti-Hindu gatekeeping inside institutions that claim to defend religious liberty. American Hindus are not required to submit to that script,” it said.

“We reject USCIRF’s attempt to delegitimize this visit, and we call on elected officials, community leaders, and all fair-minded Americans to reject this sectarian lobbying masquerading as human rights work. Hindu civilization does not need permission to stand upright,” it added.

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