You don’t mess with Zohran, or Indian Americans

New York mayor-elect's campaign saw the community return to back the Democratic Party, the move driven by a need for respect and belonging

- Vivek Wadhwa

"Indians go home". That was the mantra of the Make America Great Again (MAGA) crowd this year. Indian Americans listened, and they did go home, not to India, but back to the Democratic Party they have long supported. In doing so, they have begun to redraw the map of American politics. And they may finally be ready to shed their meekness and speak up.

They have just shaken the foundation of New York City. Zohran Mamdani, 34, the son of filmmaker Mira Nair, won the mayor's race by a landslide, defeating former governor Andrew Cuomo. He will be the city's first Muslim mayor, its first of Indian descent, and its youngest leader in more than a century.

His victory marks the moment a community that had long stayed quiet under fire finally found its voice, living out the stories his mother once told on screen about identity, belonging, and courage.

What makes Mamdani's story remarkable is that it seemed right out of a Bollywood melodrama. With his signature smile, he didn't just campaign; he performed. He blared Kishore Kumar at block parties, quoted Lagaan on perseverance, and turned policy debates into dance-offs. His rallies looked less like stump speeches and more like My Name Is Khan with campaign signs. Punjabi aunties swayed beside Puerto Rican students and Black union workers, all shouting his name, all part of the same beat. His campaign could have been directed by Karan Johar, equal parts family drama, social change, and a big dance number to dhoom machale dhoom for the finale.

And somewhere between the bhangra and the ballots, something shifted.