New York: Zohran Mamdani, 33, an Assemblyman from Queens, is the first South Asian to run for NYC Mayor. A democratic socialist, he is contesting in the upcoming New York state elections for the mayor post, scheduled for June 24.
Born and raised in Kampala, Uganda, he moved to New York City with his family at the age of 7 and became a naturalized US citizen in 2018. His father, Mahmood Mamdani, is a renowned Ugandan author and his mother, Mira Nair, is an Indian-American filmmaker.
He is running against several high-profile candidates, including Adrienne Adams, Speaker of the New York City Council; Whitney Tilson, a former hedge fund executive; and Andrew Cuomo, former Governor of New York.
Mamdani has come within striking distance of Cuoma, newly released polling data showed. He is just seven points behind Cuomo in the first round of NYC's ranked-choice voting system, according to the latest data for the Progress Survey of likely Democratic primary votes. “This campaign is for every person who believes in the dignity of their neighbors and that the government’s job is to actually make our lives better,” Mamdani endorsed for his election campaign.
Mamdani has attracted fair share of controversies as well. He is known for his radical stance on Israel. In an interview on Fox5, “Good Day New York,” Mamdani opposed Israel’s right to exist — as a Jewish state. “Because I’m not comfortable supporting any state that has a hierarchy of citizenship on the basis of religion or anything else,” he told anchor Rosanna Scotto. “In the way we have in this country, equality should be enshrined in every country in the world,” he added.
Mamdani has previously also been criticized for his remarks against Prime Minister Modi and anti- Hindu stance. He was asked a hypothetical question that if Indian PM Narendra Modi holds a rally in Madison Square Garden and then wants to address a joint press conference with the mayor of New York, would he join that? To this he replied he won't join. Mamdani elaborated on his answer and said his father is a Gujarati-Muslim and then compared the Indian PM with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Assemblywoman Jennifer Rajkumar strongly reacted to the statement and said such divisive language about foreign leaders should have no place in the New York mayoral poll when there are real issues. Jaspreet Singh, a Sikh community leader and human rights lawyer, said to the NYP, “Hate has no place in our city. We believe in equality, love and respect for all. We believe all are children of the same God. “But Zohran has used his platform to amplify some of the worst anti-Hindu rhetoric imaginable. Words matter, and instead of uniting the Indian community, he seeks to divide us by religion, pitting Muslims and Hindus against each other. Associating Hindus with fascism and using derogatory words against them is highly objectionable.”
The 2025 controversies are not isolated incidents. In 2020, Mamdani led an aggressive protest in Times Square against the construction of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. According to videos circulated at the time, slurs like “Hindus are bastards” were shouted during the protest—statements Mamdani has neither disavowed nor clarified. Recently, Mamdani made headlines for launching his election campaign in Bollywood style, speaking in Hindi in a 2-minute-23-second video. His campaign video quickly went viral on social media. It received backlash from several social media users and blamed him for using "India card" to win votes.
