Mamdani’s Win Pushes US Rightward?

A red flag at the very heart of America, the country that dreads the red the most. Akin to showing a red rag to a bull. How dare they? These were some of the questions that hit this news consumer’s mind while he was watching and reading about the historic election of Zohran Mamdani as the mayor of New York City, in a bid to better understand the enormity of the development. 

What does it mean for the big apple of trade and commerce, a cosmopolitan dream for tens of thousands of immigrants from across the globe, especially from Asia — including a tiny community from Nepal — and the target of September 9/11, 2001 terror attacks located at the very heart of an America that has been witnessing a full right tilt under Donald Trump, the most powerful contemporary American icon of all things anti-Muslim, anti-immigration, anti-socialist, anti-diversity, anti-inclusion and anti-equity?

Uncertainty 

When your present is shaky and future uncertain, looking far beyond from the seat of a glorious past gives comic relief, lived experiences suggest this much. As long as this relief lasts, this sapien wishes to cherish it, happy that the sunlight, the air and a little bit of sky over his house and all those heavenly objects come tax-free. 

So, when our federal capital was not smoldering like on the fateful days of September 8 and 9, this sapien made himself comfortable in a falcha built under the mayorship of Balen Shah in Bhotahiti and tried to analyse the event that has rocked not only a metropolis located 6,552 nautical miles away but also the United States as a whole, one sane afternoon, days after his mayorship woke up a world fast asleep with his midnight tweet.  Bade bade saharon me aisi chhoti chhoti baaten hoti rahati hai. You see, borrowed nuggets are all that this freelancer has! And his so-so translation of this nugget in Hindi goes: In mega cities, such small things keep happening.  

Back to that day. In this bustling metropolis, this wanderer was looking for a quiet corner to give one of the two books — How Democracies Die (authors: Steven Levitsky & Daniel Ziblatt) and Chip War (author: Chris Miller) — a cursory reading after purchasing them in a book shop in Jamal by digging quite deep into his pocket. By the way, should we worry much over democracies dying throughout the world? You see, it is like democracies to die in darkness and in broad daylight. Moreover, does a rigged polity featuring the top brass of the three major parties in power for decades qualify to be a democracy?  

Interestingly, the sapien in question was in the midst of Why Nations Fail (authors: Daron Acemoglu and James A Robinson) when Kathmandu and other parts of the country were burning while our Neros were twiddling their thumbs! Apparently, when things happening in your milieu are beyond your comprehension, books offer some relief, allowing you to bury your hand in the sand even as a costly habit continues to leave your pockets hollowed out.  With important developments happening in near and far-off shores like New York at a dizzying pace, this sapien does not wish to delve into the books in this space.

So, let him head to India, Uganda and the United States, all for free. 

The sapien we know as Zohran Mamdani, 34, was born in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, to parents of Indian origin —  Mahmood Mamdani, a professor of government and anthropology at the Columbia University, and Mira Nair, a celebrated filmmaker who focuses mostly on Indian stories. The family moved to the United States when Zohran was seven. Zohran graduated from the NYC Public School System, attended the Bronx High School of Science, received a bachelor’s degree in Africana Studies from Bowdoin College and became a naturalized American citizen in 2018.

Mamdani, 34, a Democratic nominee for the mayorship, enters the political scene of the US as the youngest mayor of the big apple in more than a century, its first South Asian-heritage mayor and Africa-born mayor, literally painting the city red with his pro-immigrant, pro-social security and pro-Palestine image by defeating the fellow Democratic candidate, Andrew Cuomo, 67, who was anything but red. 

Cosmopolitan pride

The mayor-elect continues to take pride in his Indian heritage in a cosmopolitan New York with his song and dance clips, which is no music to a Trumpian America. That there’s no love between President Trump and Mamdani is public knowledge.

Before the mayoral election, Trump had threatened to restrict federal funds for NYC if Democratic candidate Mamdani won the race. After the win, Trump has told Mamdani to be nice to him, in the wake of Mamdani’s “Turn the volume up” speech. These vibes point toward a tough fight between a liberal mayor and a rightwing president in the coming days. 

For those living on the floodplains and watching a turbulent flow with considerable alarm, a key question will continue to hang like the sword of Damocles: Will the US under Trump—and the world at large—tilt further right, with this election setting off alarm bells? Will this lead to the eviction of more Nepali immigrants from the Big Apple and beyond? Apparently, as they say in Hindi: Picture abhi banki hey mere dost (The movie is yet to reach the end, my friend). So, keep watching and reading the tea leaves!

(Gautam is a freelancer.)