NEW DELHI (AP) — Indians lit up social media on Wednesday to celebrate Zohran Mamdani’s election win as New York City mayor after he thanked his Indian-born parents, quoted a historic speech by India’s first prime minister and turned the victory rally into a Bollywood-style street party.
“We are proud of him. He has done a great job,” Mamdani’s maternal uncle Vikram Nair told The Associated Press. He said he was flooded with requests from friends and
families to throw celebratory parties.
“We will plan it soon,” he said, adding that the family would love to have Mamdani take part.
The 34-year-old, Ugandan-born Mamdani is set to be New York’s youngest mayor in more than a century — and the first Muslim one — when he takes office on Jan. 1.
At a boisterous victory rally late Tuesday, Mamdani addressed supporters with a speech inspired by Jawaharlal Nehru’s iconic “Tryst with Destiny” address, delivered on the eve of India’s independence in 1947.
“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,” Mamdani said.
The title track of 2004 Bollywood blockbuster "Dhoom” played as Mamdani concluded his speech, flanked by his parents and wife Rama Duwaji.
Mamdani’s mother, Mira Nair, is an award-winning Indian filmmaker whose credits include “Monsoon Wedding," “The Namesake” and “Mississippi Masala” and whose work has been nominated for an Academy Award. His father, Mahmood Mamdani, is an anthropology professor at Columbia University.
After his victory, Nair shared Bollywood film maker Zoya Akhtar’s Instagram story that was captioned “Zohran you beauty," with heart emojis.
Winking references to his Indian heritage figured in Mamdani's buzzy campaign videos, with many social media posts using dialogues from classic Bollywood movies.
While there was no official Indian government reaction to Mamdani’s win, Shashi Tharoor, a senior leader of the opposition Congress party, hailed his “spectacular victory,” calling it “wonderfully apt!” in his post on social media.
Mamdani’s multi-racial outreach and embrace of his Indian and Muslim identity won him support, but his past remarks about Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whom he publicly called a “war criminal,” had many expressing concern and anger.
Rights groups have accused Modi’s government of widespread attacks and discrimination against India’s Muslims and other minorities. As chief minister of the state of Gujarat, Modi was accused of not acting to stop communal violence during 2002 anti-Muslim riots that left more than 1,000 people dead. An investigation approved by the Indian Supreme Court later absolved him.
Not everyone in India was enthused Wednesday by Mamdani’s historic win, which made headlines.
“It’s that season again, when India’s self-proclaimed urban intelligentsia will obsess over Zohran Mamdani’s New York mayoral win, yet have no clue who their own city’s mayor is!,” Indian lawmaker Milind Deora wrote on social media.
