FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
“Fibs, Fronts and Fixers: The Hidden Machinery Behind Mohan Bhagwat’s US Visit” maps the RSS Vishwa Vibhag or ‘Overseas Department’, the ghost “Yoga Instructor” who manages it, and the role of the HSS in hosting Bhagwat’s upcoming US visit.
Press Contact: [email protected] – Safa Ahmed, Indian American Muslim Council
New York – August 19, 2026: Savera, a multiracial, interfaith, anti-caste coalition committed to fighting supremacist politics of all kinds, today announces the release of the first in a series of reports occasioned by the upcoming U.S. tour of Mohan Bhagwat, leader of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), India’s Hindu supremacist paramilitary organization. Titled Fibs, Fronts and Fixers: The Hidden Machinery Behind Mohan Bhagwat’s US Visit, Savera’s new report sheds light on the secretive transnational operations of the RSS – a century-old organization that serves as the mothership of the Hindu far-right worldwide.
After briefly discussing the RSS’s illegal lobbying campaign last year, the report delves into the hidden power networks behind the group purportedly hosting Bhagwat in Madison Square Garden on August 29 –the little-known AHEAD Forum. Our research shows how, in spite of efforts to obscure these associations, the AHEAD Forum has clearly been organized by the overseas wings of the Hindu far-right, including the HSS (Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, the US wing of the RSS) and the innocuously-titled FIIDS (Foundation for India and Indian Diaspora Studies, a think-tank with ties to the RSS and HSS).
Savera’s report then uncovers the activities of the RSS’s chief operative in the United States – a man listed in tax forms as a humble “yoga instructor” making $36,000 a year for the HSS. In contrast to his stated job title, this enigmatic individual has travelled to hundreds of locations across the globe in what we show to be his true role: the Global Coordinator of the RSS’s secretive Vishwa Vibhag, or Overseas Department.
“The US Hindutva movement has divided our communities, spread vicious anti-Muslim hatred, tried to influence our elections, and worked to build a global authoritarian alliance. Even as it does so, the RSS likes to pretend that it has no overseas operations. Drawing on the organization’s own publications, statements, and public records, this report demolishes this fabrication.” – Safa Ahmed, Board Member, Indian American Muslim Council
“Mohan Bhagwat does not represent Hindus. He represents the fringe, extremist Hindu nationalist movement, which has engaged in hate and violence against religious minority communities for a century. In 1939, Madison Square Garden hosted a Nazi rally which any of us can look back on and feel shock and shame. Madison Square Garden should not make the same mistake by holding a rally celebrating the leader of a hate movement like Hindu nationalism.” – Sravya Tadepalli, Deputy Executive Director, Hindus for Human Rights
“Like other violent supremacist organizations, the RSS operates through secrecy and a lack of transparency. This allows it to divide society and create unrest for political gain. Its secretive and malicious activities are enabled by so-called upper-caste networks within India’s bureaucracy, political establishment, judiciary, and media. These caste networks shield the RSS from sustained media scrutiny and institutional accountability.” – S Karthikeyan, Ambedkar King Study Circle.
Karthikeyan added, “The Ku Klux Klan was uprooted through persistent media exposure and sincere, committed government action. Savera’s landmark report documents the organized Hindutva network in the USA with firm evidence. It equips civil and human rights organizations to expose and isolate this network from civic spaces and provides American authorities with evidence to investigate and regulate its activities.”
Read the full report at: https://www.wearesavera.org/resources/reports/fibs-fronts-fixers/