Can a political bully and a socialist coexist? Zohran Kwame Mamdani’s impressive performance in the Democratic mayoral primary may have national implications. His message of affordability and inclusivity is an example of a new generation of leadership that directly confronts everything US President Donald Trump stands for.
Mamdani, 33, was only nine years old when hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center in 2001. Born and raised in Kampala, Uganda, he had moved to New York City with his family only two years prior. In 2018, he became naturalised as an American citizen and around the same time completed a degree in Africana studies from Bowdoin College. That’s a diverse CV that may not impress Trump, for whom immigrants and deportation are buzzwords.
The prospect of having a democratic socialist to lead the global capital of capitalism is not a feat that happens every year or even a decade. It’s in the blood of the son of celebrated film director Mira Nair and Professor Mahmood Mamdani, who teaches at Columbia. Both parents are Harvard alumni. His wife is 27-year-old Brooklyn-based Syrian artist Rama Duwaji. The two met on the dating app Hinge.
It’s the stuff of stories and stories he knows well. When Mira Nair was planning to adapt Jhumpa Lahiri’s book The Namesake into a film, she had to make a tough choice — turn down an offer to direct Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The maker of films like Salaam Bombay, Mississippi Masala and Monsoon Wedding could have easily gone with the Potter film as she and her son had seen all the films based on J.K. Rowling’s creation.
But Mamdani helped her make a choice and the book-to-movie adaptation was well received globally. It follows the journey of Gogol Ganguli, the son of Bengali immigrants Ashoke (Irrfan Khan) and Ashima (Tabu) in America where they struggle with the question of identity.
A few years before the film was released, his father wrote a critically acclaimed book titled Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War and the Roots of Terror to make sense of post 9/11. He had met Nair in 1989 when she came to Kampala to research her film Mississippi Masala.
Mamdani’s New York is home to around 1 million Muslims who made up 12 per cent of the electorate in the 2021 mayoral election, according to The New York Times. The good son completed the trail while fasting for Ramzan and taking his message of affordability to Muslim community centres throughout the city.
History is worth remembering: In mid-September 2001, then President George W. Bush condemned anti-Muslim attacks. He said those directing their anger against Muslims should be “ashamed”. At the Islamic Centre of Washington, he said: “The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam. That’s not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace. These terrorists don’t represent peace. They represent evil and war.” That’s the America Mamdani grew up in.
He is also a musician who will never make it to Trump’s playlist, the man who often dances to YMCA by The Village People. Mamdani is well-versed in hip-hop and has collaborated — as Young Cardamom — with Ugandan rapper HAB on the 2016 EP Sidda Mukyaalo. In 2019, he released the rap single, Nani, the video of which features cookbook author Madhur Jaffrey.
Mamdani has proposed establishing city-run grocery stores and making buses free. “I will not abandon my beliefs or my commitments,” he told supporters on Wednesday. He found support in New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who congratulated him on X: “Your dedication to an affordable, welcoming and safe New York City where working families can have a shot has inspired people across the city. Billionaires and lobbyists poured millions against you and our public finance system. And you won.”
Mamdani had put together a campaign video that refers to the “Mere paas maa hai” scene from Deewaar. With Shah Rukh Khan’s arms-spread pose, Mamdani says in the video that he has the people’s support. That’s the area where Trump’s popularity will get tested.