Zohran Mamdani, Democratic nominee for the November 4 Mayoral election for the New York City (NYC), despite having Indian roots does not enthuse Indians much, neither back home, nor the diaspora in the US. At best, most Indians are indifferent and at worst, they may be opposed to his election given some positions he took in the past about India and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
This is not only because of his radically extremist views about Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whom he once described as a “war criminal”, but also staging a protest against the construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya, with the map showing Jammu and Kashmir as “independent” in the backdrop.
Both his parents are of Indian origin. Mamdani himself is not a natural born, but a naturalised US citizen. He was born in Kampala, Uganda, to Mahmood Mamdani, a Shia Muslim from Gujarat in India, who used to teach there and noted filmmaker, Mira Nair. He is a member of both the US Democratic Party and the Democratic Socialists of America, an ultra-leftist group. Probably for this reason the US President described him as a “100 percent Communist Lunatic”.
Normally, a US Mayoral election, even if that of the NYC, should not interest the Indians much, but after Mamdani won the Democratic primary, the interest grew more. With a “South Asian” sounding name, he started evincing a lot of interest in the Indian subcontinent, both India and Pakistan. But as the things unfolded and his roots were traced to Gujarat in India and that too the Shia sect, the interest in Pakistan waned and in India grew much.
It is not only Donald Trump who is irked at his nomination and the possibility of election as Mayor, even a large section of the Democratic leadership in the US is concerned over the “ultra-left” leanings of Mamdani, his radically pro-Palestine and extremely anti-Israel stance bordering anti-Semitism, which the party feels may not be in its long term interests. There are apprehensions that Mamdani’s views can push away the moderate Democrats towards the Republicans.
That is the reason, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who lost to Mamdani in the primary, has decided to stay in the contest as an independent candidate. According to a news outlet, he had earlier “qualified to run on the ‘Fight and Deliver’ ballot line in the general election through an independent nomination petition submitted to the New York City Board of Elections, which at the time he said was meant to reach voters disillusioned with the Democratic Party.” Cuomo’s candidature was also endorsed by former US President Bill Clinton, ahead of the Democratic primary. But he still lost to Mamdani in the primary.
Mamdani has, so far, remained a polarising figure in the New York political landscape. A member of the New York assembly since 2021, he is considered to be a hard-core pro-Palestine leader. He once announced that if Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu comes to New York, he will arrest him.
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Mamdani has also had very critical views about Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, describing him as a “war criminal”, alleging his role in the 2002 Gujarat riots. He staged a protest demonstration at Times Square opposing the construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
During a debate ahead of the primary, when asked whether he would like to address a joint press conference with Prime Minister Modi, he declined and was quoted saying, “My father, his family comes from Gujarat, in India. His family is Muslim, and I’m Muslim. Narendra Modi helped to orchestrate what was a mass slaughter of Muslims in Gujarat to the extent that we don’t even believe there are Gujarati Muslims any more. When I tell someone that I am, it’s a shock to them.”
With such radically critical and hostile views towards Indian Prime Minister, based on complete disinformation, it is not difficult to guess as where will the Indians’ sympathies and support lie.
It is not only the supporters of the BJP or Prime Minister Modi who have taken exception to Mamdani’s views on India, even senior Congress leader Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi expressed his serious disapproval of him. “When Zohran Mamdani opens his mouth, Pakistan’s PR team takes the day off. India doesn’t need enemies with ‘allies’ like him shouting fiction from New York,” he wrote on ‘X’.
It is quite obvious how ignorant Mamdani appears to be about India, despite having Indian roots. If he gets elected as the Mayor of New York City, he will be holding an influential position. Not that India expects anything from him, he should at least brush up his knowledge about the country of his parents. Blowing issues out of context and buying into a particular narrative may have suited him as an activist, but it will not suit him, if and when he ends up holding some important position and that too that of the Mayor of New York City.
His positioning on various issues vindicates the apprehensions about a thin line that divides the radical left from religious radicals, particularly those holding strong anti-Semitic views; not to speak about sharing stage with radical religious organisations to denounce India and the construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
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