Leftist Mamdani is the answer to New York's poverty, but political skills are needed to solve its problems

Zohran Mamdani is the 33-year-old Democratic party candidate for the November New York City Mayoral election.

- By P.K.Balachandran

If he wins, history will have been made. Mamdani will be the first Muslim, an Indian immigrant from Africa and that too of recent origin, a hard core socialist, and an unabashed supporter of the Palestinian cause, to occupy the coveted position of Mayor of the financial capital of the US, which is also home to the largest Jewish population outside of Israel.

Affordability Crisis

Here are some of the key and radical promises made by Mamdani: He repeatedly emphasised the need to bring down the “affordability crisis” in New York.

"This is a city where one in four of its people are living in poverty, a city where 500,000 kids go to sleep hungry every night," Mamdani told the BBC.

He has proposed to introduce a chain of city-owned grocery stores, a rent freeze on all rent-stabilised units, stricter accountability for landlords, and the creation of a Social Housing Development Agency to oversee the construction of 200,000 subsidised housing units over a three-year period.

Mamdani has promised universal childcare for kids aged six weeks to five years, affordable higher education by eliminating tuition fees in public colleges and removal of property tax exemptions extended to private universities. He also plans to set up a Department of Community Safety meant to administer housing assistance, community outreach, and a mental health service.

Mamdani has proposed a plan to make all public buses fare-free and freeze subway fares. These measures are meant to increase ridership on these modes of transport, introduce climate protection, cut back on congestion and provide better infrastructure for those using pedestrian or cycling lanes. He has plans to grant sanctuary to undocumented workers, and legal aid and language access to immigrants.

To implement the proposed measures, Mamdani is planning to introduce a 2% city income tax on citizens earning more than $1 million, along with an increase in corporate taxes.