By Anita Inder Singh
What’s in a name? In Zohran Mamdani’s case, it is a message of hope, not least because he has scarce administrative experience and was elected to the New York state assembly as recently as 2021. Contrary to what many in the Indian media have said, he is the first African citizen and first Muslim to be elected mayor of America’s largest city, New York.
His father was a Ugandan citizen of Indian origin, his mother an Indian citizen who took up US citizenship. He was born Ugandan and went to the US as one at the age of seven. His very name—Zohran Kwame Mamdani—reflects a mix of African, Indian, and Muslim origins. He now holds dual Ugandan and US citizenship. Indians should not claim him as an “Indian” because that has never been his defining citizenship. The US, after all, is a multicultural country and the only one to have viewed itself as a nation of immigrants. Many Ugandans have hailed his electoral win in New York but this is hardly reported in the Indian media. Moreover, Indians could remember his critique of Narendra Modi for thinking that only a certain kind of Indian is an Indian—to which Delhi has not replied.
That said, Mamdani represents a win against the Trump administration which is dividing Americans, cutting down social benefits, forcing a shutdown of government, and cruelly forcing some immigrants to return to dictatorships, where their survival is in question. He has challenged Donald Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to clamp down on dissent.
During New York’s election campaign, Trump threatened to cut federal funding to the tune of $18 billion for New York’s infrastructure projects if Mamdani was elected. In a U-turn of sorts, he has subsequently said he will give the city “a little”.
Mamdani defines himself as democratic socialist, in a country where “socialism” has long been condemned as a dirty word, identified with everything from the former Soviet dictatorship and sky-high taxes on the rich in democracies. Promising accessibility and fairness, he has assured New Yorkers of free public transport, higher minimum wages, and expanded social services, including universal child care, city-owned grocery stores, and a rent freeze.
How will he finance such programmes? By increasing corporate tax in New York and asking the city’s millionaires to pay an additional 2% in income tax to raise money. Some New York businesspeople have opposed his plans; others have supported them.
Mamdani’s focus on affordability contributed to his historic win in an election that turned out local voters in the greatest numbers since 1969.
Generally, the vote for Mamdani is an anti-establishment vote and has little to do with his ethnic, cultural, or racial origins. Like Barack Obama, the first “coloured” American president, he impresses on the world that politicians should be defined by their politico-socio-economic beliefs, programmes, and actions. Mamdani’s campaign of hope and inclusion has given many voters a good taste of genuinely transformative Democratic politics—which the Clintons, Joe Biden, and Kamala Harris failed to do. The unfortunate result was the victory of Trump, who has committed many illegal acts and is destabilising the US, the world, international law, and the global economy. Mamdani’s triumph at the New York level signals a desire for peaceful, not Trumpian, disruptive change.
Over time, he has challenged those Americans who dislike labels like “socialist”. At a time when young Americans face downward mobility in the face of liberal capitalism, housing, education, and unaffordable health care costs, job insecurity, and stagnating wages, New York’s economy no longer rewards hard work as it once did.
New Yorkers—and Americans—are now re-imagining what fairness looks like and how it might be achieved.
Like Sadiq Khan, London’s Muslim mayor who has been elected a record-breaking three consecutive times, Mamdani defines himself as a politician who happens to be a Muslim. Like Khan, he asserts that he will be mayor for all citizens of his great city. Islamophobes like Trump—and in other countries—fail to understand his refusal to be defined by his faith. The pro-Israel lobby condemns him as anti-Semitic; other Jews have supported him. Understandably, he wants to show that he has won by addressing voters’ concerns, rather than deceiving them. And that his religion does not make it impossible for him to serve them.
No smooth sailing for Mamdani
Mamdani’s relationship with Washington is likely to be the most immediate challenge.
At the local level, Mamdani must persuade Kathy Hochul, the governor of New York, to raise taxes, She is running for re-election next year and is wary of tax increases that would offend many potential voters statewide. All the more so since Mamdani succeeded with just 50.4% of the vote. That is a small majority. Trump’s favoured candidate, Andrew Cuomo, won 41.6% of votes, and the Republican nominee, Curtis Silwa, 7.1%.
Sceptics opine that Mamdani’s interpretation of class struggle in the context of law enforcement and public education could create problems with New York’s police, who, in recent years, have been able to bring down crime.
Mamdani’s team asserts that politics is about “managing a set of obstacles”. They could also remember that voters elect politicians to successfully address their problems rather than to create problems that block every possible solution.
Those messages resonate worldwide. Citizens and governments of democracies will scrutinise Mamdani’s record with great interest.
The writer is a founding professor at the Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution, New Delhi
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