Mamdani’s mood, aesthetic, and vocabulary often reflect the global upbringing of her immigrant parents.
Zoran Mamdani’s New York Major Race
Mamdani, 34, will be New York City’s first Muslim and South Asian mayor.
NEW YORK – Moments after making history as the first Muslim and Asian American mayor of New York City, Zoran Mamdani delivered an impassioned acceptance speech that ended with a soundtrack of Bollywood hits blaring through a packed venue of supporters.
Mamdani’s mood, aesthetic, and vocabulary often reference his global upbringing by Indian-born immigrant parents in Uganda, South Africa, and the city he will lead.
The democratic socialist’s speech was peppered with international references.
The song, “Dhoom Machare…Dhoom Machare Doom,” roughly translates to “Make some noise and have fun.” The last song he performed was the title song of the 2004 Hindi film Dhoom.
Moments earlier, Mamdani sent a powerful message to Donald Trump: “I know you’re watching, so I have four words: Turn up the volume.”
Was the one-time wannabe rapper turned state legislator urging the president to pay attention, or flaunting generational change? Probably both.
Mamdani, 34, will be the youngest mayor of New York in more than a century. At 79 years old, Trump is from Queens and is the oldest person elected as commander in chief.
After his speech, Mamdani’s wife, Rama Dowaj, a Gen Z child of Syrian immigrants who grew up in Dallas and Dubai, joined him on stage as the fast-paced song “Doom” played. The crowd jeered and cheered.
In his speech, he referred to Duwaj in Arabic as “hayati,” or “my life.”
He also quoted a famous quote from India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. ”On August 14, 1947, on the eve of India’s independence, the “Challenge of Destiny” speech delivered to the Constituent Assembly stated: “There comes a moment when we step out of the old into the new, when an era ends, when the long-suppressed soul of a nation speaks, something that rarely happens in history.”
Mamdani was born in Uganda, moved to New York City at the age of seven, and traveled frequently to India. He is fluent in Hindi and Spanish.
His campaign ad featured him wearing a kurta, an Indian tunic. His Instagram posts and speeches include words in Arabic, Spanish, and Hindi. Before running for mayor, Mandani represented the borough of Queens, where more than 140 languages are spoken.
“Release your client list, Habibi,” he said in one campaign ad, calling on his opponent and “habibi” (friend, man, beloved), former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, to reveal his business dealings.
On Tuesday night, after his big victory over Mr. Cuomo and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa, he started flying Arabic again.
He told voters, “You showed us that we can usher in a new era of leadership when politics speaks to you without being condescending. We fight for you because we are you. Or as we say at Steinway, ana minkum wa alaikum.”
Steinway Street, in the “Little Egypt” neighborhood of Astoria, Queens, is home to a large Muslim community. This Arabic phrase means something like, “We are yours and you are ours.”
After his speech, his parents joined him and his wife on stage. His mother is Mira Nair, an acclaimed film director, who is a Punjabi and Hindu born in the eastern Indian state of Orissa. his father, Mahmoud Mamdani, The Gujarat-born professor of African studies and political science at Columbia University is a Muslim who grew up in Kampala, Uganda.
Nia, the iconic filmmaker behind such classics as “Mississippi Masala” starring a young Denzel Washington, “Nameless” and “Monsoon Wedding,” wore a bright blue and green sari with a traditional Hindu bindi on her forehead..
She kissed the mayor-elect’s arm.
Early in the evening, before the results started coming in, Nehru was quick to point out his contribution.
“I’m the producer of the nominees,” she said with a smile.
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is USA TODAY’s White House correspondent. You can follow her at X @SwapnaVenugopal.
