Mamdani reclaims NYC for people, has lessons for us

Cities with strong leadership are poised to go places; the trend may well have begun with Mamdani's win in the NYC Mayoral elections

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The recent election in New York that catapulted the 34year-old Zohran Mamdani of Indian descent, a selfconfessed democratic socialist and a visible Muslim, to the highest office in the world's most capitalised city has had the commentariat weighing in. Indeed, why not? When was the last time that municipal elections anywhere made global headlines and had the world's most powerful billionaires running around to hedge their interests? This could be a profound shift in local urban politics given that NYC is watched, followed, and replicated by cities around the world.

While acknowledging the parallels that exist in the conditions between the centre of global capitalism and other cities, and recognising the possibilities that Mamdani's campaign and win-the campaign was a major refreshing change-we must ask if a "Zohran Mamdani can ever rise in Mumbai or in any Indian city for that matter. The answer hangs in the polluted air that's now enveloping Mumbai, Delhi, and other cities across India.

The political systems and democratic architecture differ between NYC and Mumbai or Delhi, but that is not the only reason that it would be tremendously difficult, if not entirely impossible, for a Mamdanilike figure to emerge. The mayor in Mumbai would not have the power that Mamdani will have as the NYC mayor; it's a factor of our Constitution and the governance framework that persists despite the 74th Amendment that devolved power to urban local bodies. Even when occasionally, some slices of power have been grabbed by local authorities, they have come up against the barrier of finance-state governments have been loath to see financially strong municipal corporations.