From Delhi’s midnight to New York’s dawn: Mamdani quotes Nehru after historic win

New York: Moments after being declared New York City’s next mayor, Zohran Mamdani reached for the words of another leader from a very different time and place — India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.

Quoting from Nehru’s 1947 Independence Day address, ‘Tryst with Destiny’, the 34-year-old said to cheering supporters in Brooklyn: “I’m reminded of Jawahar Lal Nehru’s words — 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, New York has done just that. This new era demands clarity, courage, and vision, not excuses.”

For Mamdani, a Democratic socialist of Indian origin, the echo of Nehru’s call to renewal was more than rhetorical. His win — with 50.4 per cent of the vote — marked a generational and cultural turning point for America’s largest city. He defeated Democratic contender Andrew Cuomo and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa to become New York’s youngest, and its first Muslim and South-Asian immigrant, mayor.

Mamdani built his campaign around economic fairness and social equity, promising rent freezes for tenants in stabilised housing, more affordable homes, free childcare, faster and free bus transit, city-run grocery stores to curb food costs, and higher taxes on the wealthy, according to CBS News.

Supporters at his campaign headquarters erupted in celebration as the scale of his victory became clear. “Tonight feels like a shift — a new generation taking ownership of the city’s story,” one volunteer said.

National reactions reflected that sense of change. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer hailed the outcome as “a repudiation of the Trump agenda,” telling Al Jazeera that “the cruelty, chaos and greed that define MAGA radicalism were firmly rejected by the American people.”

Donald Trump, meanwhile, dismissed the loss in a Truth Social post, claiming Republicans fell short because “TRUMP WASN’T ON THE BALLOT.”

For Mamdani, whose parents migrated from Uganda and India, the resonance of Nehru’s words seemed fitting. His election represents not only a political milestone but also a symbolic moment — one in which New York, too, “steps out from the old to the new.”

- with inputs from ANI