Wearing his democratic socialist heart on his sleeve, Zohran Mamdani took the oath of office as the mayor of New York in a decommissioned subway station in Manhattan to symbolise his affinity with the city’s workers and the marginalised people whose cause he said he would serve. The 34-year-old was administered the oath by veteran Democratic senator Bernie Sanders, a torchbearer of democratic socialism in America, with Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez by his side.

There was hardly any coverage in the Indian media of this historic moment, and the seminal impact of Mamdani’s election on American politics. The man who broke several taboos in taking charge of the Big Apple remains taboo in India. Through its media handlers, the government made it a point to invisibilise Mamdani despite his stupendous victory, ousting his nearest rival, two-time Democrat governor Andrew Cuomo, by polling more than 50 per cent of the vote.

Over 1 million New Yorkers, cutting across race, religion, ethnicity and economic background, with many immigrants among them, voted for him in a groundbreaking election that created waves across the world. His home country India was the only one that did not salute Mamdani’s unprecedented win, rising from an Assemblyman to head America’s richest city.

Mamdani has several firsts to his name: the first American of Asian descent and African origin, the first Muslim and the youngest to be elected mayor of New York. His parents are a celebrated power couple: Mira Nair, the globally acclaimed filmmaker with films like Salaam Bombay, Monsoon Wedding and Namesake to her credit, and Mahmood Mamdani, professor emeritus at Columbia University and post-colonial theorist whose celebrated work........

© National Herald