Mamdani: A message of hope

NEW YORKERS—AND AMERICANS—ARE RE-IMAGINING WHAT FAIRNESS LOOKS LIKE & HOW IT MIGHT BE ACHIEVED

- ANITA INDER SINGH

WHAT'S IN A name? In Zohran Mamdani’s case, it is a message of hope, not least because he has scarce administrative experience and was elected to the New York state assembly as recently as 2021. Contrary to what many in the Indian media have said, he is the first African citizen and first Muslim to be elected mayor of America’s largest city, New York.

His father was a Ugandan citizen of Indian origin, his mother an Indian citizen who took up US citizenship. He was born Ugandan and went to the US as one at the age of seven. His very name—Zohran Kwame Mamdani—reflects a mix of African, Indian, and Muslim origins. He now holds dual Ugandan and US citizenship. Indians should not claim him as an “Indian” because that has never been his defining citizenship. The US, after all, is a multicultural country and the only one to have viewed itself as a nation of immigrants. Many Ugandans have hailed his electoral win in New York but this is hardly reported in the Indian media. Moreover, Indians could remember his critique of Narendra Modi for thinking that only a certain kind of Indian is an Indian—to which Delhi has not replied.

That said, Mamdani represents a win against the Trump administration which is dividing Americans, cutting down social benefits, forcing a shutdown of government, and cruelly forcing some immigrants to return to dictatorships, where their survival is in question. He has challenged Donald Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to clamp down on dissent.