NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani recently spoke about his aunt’s struggles after 9/11, recalling how she felt unsafe wearing her hijab amid rising Islamophobia.

“I want to speak to the memory of my aunt, who stopped taking the subway after September 11 because she did not feel safe in her hijab,” Mamdani explained outside a Bronx mosque on Sunday.

His remarks drew criticism from Vice President JD Vance, who mocked Mamdani for portraying his aunt as the “real 9/11 victim” in his story.

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The controversy comes as early voting begins in the New York City mayoral race, where Mamdani is currently leading in surveys. A viral post has now surfaced, detailing Mamdani’s aunt and the incident he described.

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What does the post explain?

The tweet posted by Right Angles News Network reads, “It has been revealed that the “aunt” Zohran Mamdani shed fake tears over, claiming she stopped riding the subway after 9/11 because she didn’t feel safe wearing her hijab, neither wore a hijab nor lived in New York City at the time; she lived in Tanzania.”

LinkedIn records indicate she was employed with UNICEF in Tanzania in 2011. Another post by Sana Ebrahimi indicates that Mamdani’s only aunt, Masuma Mamdani, does not wear hijab. “Seems like Mamdani’s only aunt, aka the real victim of 9/11, who was scared of taking the bus wearing her hijab, does not even wear hijab.”

Another netizen called it out saying, ” It’s now been exposed that the so-called “aunt” Zohran Mamdani wept over in his political theater — claiming she stopped riding the subway after 9/11 because she feared for her life wearing a hijab — never even lived in New York, and never wore a hijab. “

He continued, “At the time, she was in Tanzania. This wasn’t a misunderstanding. It was a fabrication — a calculated manipulation of truth. And it came from a man who built his career on falsehoods. He lied. He deceived. He disrespected every New Yorker who actually lived that pain. If integrity still matters — if truth still counts — then silence is complicity. Shame on anyone who won’t vote him out. Stand up. Speak out. Vote early. Vote CUOMO.”

These heated exchanges come as the mayoral election on November 4 approaches, with Mamdani leading and Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa trailing as his main competitors.

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