What does New York City Mayor-elect think about India, immigration, housing, Gaza war

A Democrat and young leftist, Zohran Mamdani, won New York City's mayoral election on Tuesday (local time), making history as the first Indian-origin Muslim mayor of the city.

Zohran Mamdani will be sworn in on 1 January. He will be the youngest person to hold the office in a century and will replace first-term Mayor Eric Adams, who dropped out of the race amid low poll numbers and a series of scandals.

Mamdani, who identifies as a democratic socialist, received 50.3% of the votes, leading by more than 8 points against former Governor Andrew Cuomo, running on an independent line after his loss to Mamdani in the primary, with 96% of the vote counted. Anti-crime crusader and Republican Curtis Sliwa got 7.1%.

Who is Zohran Mamdani?

Zohran Mamdani is the Ugandan-born son of Oscar-nominated filmmaker Mira Nair and Mahmood Mamdani, a Columbia University professor and scholar of colonialism.

Mamdani moved to New York at age 7, attended Bronx High School of Science and Bowdoin College in Maine, and tried his hand at multiple careers, including as a rap artist, working on his mother’s films, and as a foreclosure-prevention counsellor at a nonprofit named Chhaya before turning toward politics.

He became a naturalised US citizen in 2018, and first won election to the Assembly in 2020, representing a district in western Queens.

Zohran Mamdani's policies

What do Zohran Mamdani's policies on immigration, housing, Israel-Hamas war and foreign relations look like?

Housing

Mamdani campaigned on promises to freeze the rent on more than 1 million stabilised apartments, and use every available resource to build the housing New Yorkers need and bring down the rent.

Mamdani has promised to “lower costs and make life easier” for New Yorkers as the city gets “too expensive”.

Median asking rents have surged to roughly $3,400 a month, and the city’s housing vacancy rate reached 1.4% last year, the lowest in recorded history.

Israel-Hamas war

Mamdani criticised Israel's military action against Hamas in Gaza and Iran while advocating for Palestinian rights.

The Times of Israel describes him as "a far-left anti-Israel activist," and the Washington Post calls him "a vocal pro-Palestinian advocate."

As per the reports, Mamdani described Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack as a “war crime” and asserted that the US government is complicit in what he terms Israel’s “genocidal war” on Gaza.

During an election debate, he said he believes Israel has a right to exist, but as a “state with equal rights.” Mamdani’s candidacy reportedly alarmed a swath of the Jewish community, including some of the city’s leading Reform rabbis.

As Mamdani won the New York City mayoral polls, a rabbi and supporter of Zohran Mamdani said, "...We look forward to a bright and beautiful future. We are going to send a message to the world and show them an example of Jewish people living under a Muslim Mayor in the United States of America."

He added, "We all consider Mr Mamdani a friend of the Jewish people as he expressed himself many times why he criticises and condemns the crimes of Israel."

On immigrants

In his victory speech on Tuesday, Zohran Mamdani said, “New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants, and as of tonight, led by an immigrant.”

Mamdani's relation with India

Zohran Mamdani has repeatedly emphasised his Indian Muslim identity during his campaigns. In his victory speech, too, he invoked India's former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and said, "A moment comes but rarely in history when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends and when the soul of a nation long suppressed finds utterance. Tonight, New York has done just that."

As Mamdani finished his speech, speakers reportedly blasted the Bollywood hit: Dhoom Machale.

However, Zohran Mamdani was earlier criticised by sections of the Indian-American community who accuse him of divisive rhetoric and “open bigotry” towards Hindus.

He once described Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar, the first Hindu-American elected to the New York State Assembly, as a puppet of “Hindu fascists.”

In 2020, he joined a protest in Times Square against the construction of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, where some demonstrators were filmed chanting anti-Hindu slogans, according to The New York Post.

He has also been critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.