34-year-old Mamdani elected New York mayor

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quoting from a speech delivered by India’s first Prime Minister on the eve of India’s independence.

Onstage were his parents, Odi-sha-born Mira Nair, director of Salaam Bombay!, Mississippi Masala, Monsoon Wedding, and The Namesake, and academic Mahmood Mamdani, along with his wife Rama Duwaji. Mamdani wasted little time before making it clear that he sees part of his new role as standing up to the president of the United States, who had threatened not only to defund the city if he won but also to arrest and deport him. He addressed the Republican president directly and at length from the stage.

“Donald Trump, since I know you're watching, I have four words for you: Turn the volume up,” he said, before declaring, “If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him.” “New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants and, as of tonight, led by an immigrant,” he said. “So hear me, President Trump, when I say this: To get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us.”

‘And so it begins’: Trump

Trump, who has spent months insulting Mamdani and warning that the city would be ruined if he won, seemed to be watching.

“..AND SO IT BEGINS!” he posted on social media as Mamdani spoke.

Mamdani, who was born in Uganda, moved to the US to follow his father, a Ugandan national of Indian descent. He became a naturalised American citizen in 2018.