New Democratic Face

US President Donald Trump, who had comfortably defeated his Democratic rival Kamala Harris in the recent presidential election and exuded supreme confidence since then, now seems to be rattled by the challenge posed by Democratic candidate for the mayoral election of the crucial New York City, Zohran Mamdani. The President seems so perturbed that months before the election is to be held, he has threatened to cut New York off from federal funds if the favoured mayoral candidate, a democratic socialist, “doesn’t behave himself” should he be elected. On the surface, the verbal war assumes the appearance of the battle between David and Goliath. For, it does not make much sense that the mighty US President could launch such a venomous attack on the Democratic mayoral candidate calling him “a pure Communist” and a “100% Communist lunatic.” A few months ago, no one had even heard of Mamdani outside of local politics, but now he is being lionised and pilloried by some of America’s biggest political players.

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In fact, the life story of the 33-year-old Democrat became a big part of his campaign. He was born in Kampala in Uganda to a family of Indian ancestry before he moved to New York at age seven. His mother, Mira Nair, is a well-known Indian American filmmaker who was born in Rourkela, Orissa. His father is Mahmood Mamdani, a professor at Columbia University who specialises in the study of colonialism.

Being branded a Communist in the USA is a risky proposition and hence Mamdani quickly clarified he is not a Communist. But he reaffirmed his commitment to raise taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers while saying he does not think the country should have billionaires. Trump has said if Mamdani wins, “he’s got to do the right thing or they're not getting any money.” More than $100bn flows to New York City from the federal government through different entities and programmes.