WEBDESK: A young left wing candidate, Zohran Mamdani, has shaken New York’s political scene by delivering one of the most direct and scathing attacks on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his campaign for mayor.
The 33-year-old socialist, now poised to become the Democratic nominee for New York Mayor after defeating political veteran Andrew Cuomo in the party’s primary, made his strongest remarks at the “New Mayor, New Media” forum on 15 May 2025.
Earlier this year, speaking at the event, Zohran Mamdani said, “My father’s family comes from Gujarat in India and we are Muslims, and Modi helped to orchestrate what was a mass slaughter of Muslims in Gujarat to the extent that people don’t even believe there are Gujarati Muslims anymore. When I tell someone I am, it’s a shock to them. Modi is someone that we should view in the same way we view Benjamin Netanyahu. He is a war criminal.”
His remarks quickly gained international attention, as they directly linked Modi to the 2002 Gujarat riots and compared him to other controversial world leaders.
While Mamdani’s comments won praise from human rights activists and anti-Hindutva voices, they also drew sharp criticism from some Indian-American figures in New York. Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar called the remarks “extreme and divisive,” while Sikh community leader Jaspreet Singh accused Mamdani of “trying to divide us by religion.”
Despite the backlash, Zohran Mamdani defended his position, making clear that his criticism was directed not at Hinduism, but at Hindutva, the Hindu nationalist ideology associated with Modi and the ruling BJP. He described it as a dangerous, majoritarian ideology that promotes authoritarianism and targets minorities, especially Muslims.
Mamdani’s opposition to Hindutva politics is not new. In 2020, he protested against the demolition of the Babri Masjid in New York’s Times Square and openly criticised Indian-American politicians for their links to BJP supporters.
Now, as the Democratic nominee for Mayor of New York City, Mamdani’s candidacy marks a significant political moment. If elected, he would become the first openly anti Modi and anti Hindutva mayor of a major US city with a large South Asian population.
Whether his bold position will unite progressive communities or deepen divisions within New York’s diaspora remains to be seen, but his rise has already brought the debate over India’s politics into the heart of American local elections.
