Step out from old to new: NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani invokes Pt Nehru in fiery victory speech

In a fiery victory speech, New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani said his election symbolises "hope" over tyranny and "big money" as he cited former Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to assert that the city has stepped out from the "old into the new".

Mamdani registered a decisive and historic win at the polls as he defeated Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa and political heavyweight former New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an independent candidate and received Trump's endorsement only on the eve of the election.

With 91% of votes in, Mamdani garnered 1,036,051 votes (50.4%), a clear lead over Cuomo's 854,995 votes (41.6%) and Sliwa's 146,137 votes. With this win, Mamdani becomes the first South Asian and Muslim to be elected to sit at the helm of the political seat in the largest city in the US.

Mamdani invoked Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister, as he spoke about ushering in a new era in New York City politics.

"Standing before you, I think of the words of Jawaharlal Nehru: "A moment comes, but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance." "Tonight we have stepped out from the old into the new. So let us speak now, with clarity and conviction that cannot be misunderstood, about what this new age will deliver, and for whom," he said.

Mamdani used his victory speech to challenge Trump, who has launched a crackdown on immigration in his second term as President, asserting that New York will be powered by immigrants and after his historic victory, will be "led by an immigrant".

"Together, we will usher in a generation of change. And if we embrace this brave new course, rather than fleeing from it, we can respond to oligarchy and authoritarianism with the strength it fears, not the appeasement it craves.

"After all, if anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him. And if there is any way to terrify a despot, it is by dismantling the very conditions that allowed him to accumulate power," Mamdani said to thunderous applause.

"This is not only how we stop Trump; it’s how we stop the next one. So, Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: Turn the volume up.

“We will hold bad landlords to account because the Donald Trumps of our city have grown far too comfortable taking advantage of their tenants. We will put an end to the culture of corruption that has allowed billionaires like Trump to evade taxation and exploit tax breaks. We will stand alongside unions and expand labour protections because we know, just as Donald Trump does, that when working people have ironclad rights, the bosses who seek to extort them become very small indeed.

"New York will remain a city of immigrants: a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants, and, as of tonight, led by an immigrant.

"So hear me, President Trump, when I say this: To get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us," he declared.

In his speech, Mamdani thanked everyday New Yorkers who have been so often forgotten by the "politics of our city" but who made this movement their own - from "Yemeni bodega owners and Mexican abuelas. Senegalese taxi drivers and Uzbek nurses. Trinidadian line cooks and Ethiopian aunties. Yes, aunties."

Flanked by his parents and wife, Rama Duwaji, Mamdani's nearly 25-minute speech ended with the popular Indian film song 'Dhoom Machale' from the movie 'Dhoom'. "To my parents, mama and baba: You have made me into the man I am today. I am so proud to be your son. And to my incredible wife, Rama, hayati: There is no one I would rather have by my side in this moment, and in every moment," he said.