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Hyderabad: The X account of American Hindus for Engagement and Dialogue (AHEAD), the organisers behind Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat’s upcoming New York event, went briefly dark on Thursday, August 27, before being restored, days ahead of a rally that has already drawn criticism from the city’s mayor and several civil rights groups.

AHEAD, a registered non-profit, is organising the “Universal Oneness Celebration” featuring Bhagwat at the Infosys Theater inside Madison Square Garden on August 29. Its handle, @AheadForum1, showed as “unavailable” to users for a period on Thursday before access was restored.

Organisers allege coordinated reporting

The group thanked X for prioritising the account’s restoration, attributing the outage to what it called a coordinated attempt to game the platform’s moderation systems. “We got ‘botted’ by misguided opponents who tried to game the X algorithm and get our handle blocked,” AHEAD said in a post on the platform.

The organisation maintained that its content had not violated any of X’s policies. “We remain confident that our communications have consistently promoted universal peace, oneness, harmony and constructive interfaith and intercultural dialogue in accordance with X’s policies,” it said, according to news agency PTI. 

X itself has not issued a public explanation for the suspension.

Backdrop of mounting opposition to the rally

The account outage adds to an already contentious run-up to Bhagwat’s appearance. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said earlier this week that he did not support the event, while acknowledging his office likely had no legal authority to block it. 

“I don’t support the rally, but I don’t know if the city has any jurisdiction on cancelling a private event,” Mamdani told reporters.

Several interfaith and civil rights organisations, including Hindus for Human Rights, the Indian American Muslim Council and the Interfaith Center of New York, have separately urged the venue to call off the programme, with Hindus for Human Rights announcing plans to protest outside Madison Square Garden and accusing the RSS of promoting an exclusionary Hindu nationalist agenda. 

The RSS has said the event is being held in the spirit of open dialogue.

Adding to the row, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) this week alleged deteriorating religious freedom conditions in India and called on Washington to weigh targeted measures against RSS members, including a possible revocation of Bhagwat’s visa. India’s Ministry of External Affairs dismissed the commission as “biased” and lacking credibility, with spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal saying such bodies should be ignored.

Bhagwat has already arrived in New York for the visit. AHEAD says its event, backed by more than 200 community organisations, is intended to promote interfaith harmony and mutual understanding among the Indian-American diaspora.