Zohran Mamdani was 13 when the song ‘Dhoom Machale’ composed by Pritam, sung by Sunidhi Chauhan and written by Sameer for the Bollywood movie  ‘Dhoom’ was released in 2004. Twenty-one years later it became his victory song on Tuesday night after he notched up an improbable electoral triumph and will be New York's first mayor of Indian and South Asian descent.

The song begins with “Ishq Ishq Karna Hai Kar Le, Ishq Ishq Mein Jeele Marle, Ishq Ishq Hai Sab Se Pyara’ (Fall in love if you want, Live and die in love, Love is the loveliest.) Of course, the hook phrase of the song ‘Dhoom Machale’ means “Make a splash” or “Raise the roof”.

Considering that in just one year the 34-year-old Mamdani, son of Mumbai-born parents who later shifted to Uganda and then the US, went from being an obscure mayoral aspirant buttonholing anyone who might give him a moment on multicultural New York’s frenzied sidewalks to now the mayor-elect of the financial capital of the world, is the heady stuff fit for “Dhoom Machale.’

However, as staggering a political triumph as his victory is, it would be as much a mistake to see it as a harbinger of a new America as it was to regard Barack Obama’s rise as the rise of post-racial America. Such remarkable victories have a way of diminishing into the humdrum of politics over time.

Quoting Nehru

In a pleasantly surprising reference, Mamdani quoted historically memorable words of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru saying, “A moment comes but rarely in history when we step out from the old to the new. When an age ends and the soul of a nation finds utterance. Tonight, we step out from the old to the new.”

Nehru spoke those words at midnight on August 14 in 1947 when India unshackled itself from nearly two centuries of colonial subjugation by the British.

Mamdani spoke of having “toppled a dynasty” referring to his rival and former Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo whose father Mario Cuomo was also the state’s Governor for 11 years between 1984 and 1994.

Quoting Nehru in the context of a local “dynasty” and New York’s mayoral election is a bit of an overkill but to the extent that they propel the young politician’s vision they are important.

Governance Challenges

The hubbub will subside soon as Mamdani gets on with the business of running a hugely challenging and complicated city come January 2026. Free and faster buses, free childcare and frozen rents, as promised by him during his election campaign, will all demand a highly stressful balancing act. Add to that President Donald Trump breathing down his neck, threatening to withhold federal funds for the city, and he will be quickly reminded that love is not loveliest.

Mamdani’s win comes along with the Democratic Party’s sweep in the gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia. Those two state results could mean much more to the Democratic Party’s prospects during next year’s midterm elections than Mamdani’s victory.

While Mamdani’s victory speech was a forceful reiteration of his hard left-of-center convictions, it is an open question whether Democratic candidates across the country can adopt the same approach of unapologetic assertion of similar socialist convictions.

He spoke movingly of how it was a victory for working-class New Yorkers with “palms calloused from delivery-bike handlebars” and “knuckles scarred with kitchen burns.”

South Asian votes

He also said, “I am Muslim. I am a democratic socialist. And most damning of all, I refuse to apologize for any of this.”

For Indian Americans, a substantial number of whom are right-of-center supporters of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mamdani’s victory is not necessarily a source of celebration. Their view of him is one of grudging acceptance at best and raw suspicion at worst with some of them equating his being anti-Modi in his campaign with being anti-India. This is notwithstanding the fact that he has openly celebrated his Indian roots.  

Mamdani’s performance becomes even more striking when the kind of coalition he built in the world’s most multicultural and multilingual city is brought into consideration. Early analysis shows that apart from South Asian American voters, including Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Afghan, Sri Lankan and Nepalese, he also won over White, Black and Latino voters in excess of expectations. He did particularly well in the demographic below 45 years in age as well as those in their 20s signaling a significant political shift.

(The writer is a Chicago-based journalist, author and commentator. Views are personal. He can be contacted at mcsix@outlook.com)