3 min readNew DelhiJun 26, 2025 06:40 AM IST
First published on: Jun 26, 2025 at 06:40 AM IST
“It always seems impossible until it’s done. My friends, it is done,” quoting Nelson Mandela, Zohran Mamdani announced his victory on Tuesday late evening as the Democratic nominee for the post of Mayor of New York City.
The 33-year-old Indian-American, mounting a Bollywood-style campaign, full of references to “Roti, Kapda aur Makaan“, had his opponent, Andrew Cuomo conceding to him within hours of the polls for the Mayoral primary closing.
If elected in November this year, Mamdani — the son of filmmaker Mira Nair and academic Mahmood Mamdani — would be the city’s first Muslim and Indian-American Mayor. Born in Uganda’s Kampala and raised in New York, Zohran may not be a stranger to political activism, but still has a long way to go before securing an electoral victory after defeating the Republican candidate.
Launching an energetic campaign late last year, the relatively unknown legislator had his army of young volunteers knocking on doors throughout the city, seeking support and donations. They also made sure his vision reached the masses in a city grappling with a high cost of living and housing crisis – free buses and childcare, new apartments, higher wages and more taxing the rich.
With the background score from Bollywood film “Om Shanti Om” playing, in one of the campaign videos ‘Zohran for New York City’, Mamdani addressed his constituency in Hindi about making him the city’s first South Asian mayor, “Baat yeh nahi hai main kya banunga, baat yeh hai ki main kya karunga (It doesn’t matter what I will become, but it matters what I will do).” Explaining the voting process using the example of five mango-lassi glasses representing five candidates, he took a potshot at Cuomo using a clip from Amitabh Bachchan starrer Zanjeer, “Aaj mere paas bangla hai, bank balance hai, building hai..,” urging his voters (bhaiyon aur behenon) to choose wisely and not rank billionaires like Cuomo.
During a television debate when Cuomo remarked that Mamdani couldn’t be relied upon to go toe-to-toe with (President Donald) Trump, Mamdani had a counter ready. “Mr Cuomo, I have never had to resign in disgrace,” he said to Como, who resigned in 2021 as the city’s mayor after a report concluded that he had sexually harassed at least 11 women.
No wonder he secured endorsements from two of the United States’ foremost progressives — Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders.
Earlier this year, Zohran married 27-year-old Rama Duwaji, a Syrian-born illustrator and visual artist based in Brooklyn, whose work explores the themes of identity and migration. The couple met on a dating app, and got engaged in Dubai in 2024, where Duwaji’s family lives.
Zohran Mamdani with his mother Mira Nair and wife Rama Duwaji in New York on Wednesday. (Reuters) 
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