Zohran Mamdani’s victory as the New York City Mayor has led to various reactions in the US and around the world.

Depending on one’s view some termed the win positively and others negatively.

The basic reasons why he was elected were the increasingly diversity among the NYC population and the deplorable administration of the City touted as the financial capital of the world.

Over the last few decades there has been a vast increase in the number of migrants and the changing demographics have now attained a critical mass that cannot be ignored in any election by any politician or party.

In the last presidential election Democrat-contender Kamala Harris still got about 55 percent of the votes despite a strong challenge by President Trump.

The diversity and generational changes of NYC have been gaining political momentum and any candidate with an enticing electoral platform that addresses these socioeconomic issues could pose a tough challenge to the establishment, if not win.

This is what Zohran Mamdani did. His promise of radical and revolutionary reforms using the socialist system of governance was found to be attractive, and voters wanted to give him a chance.

It is hoped that Mamdani will take a fruitful bite at the ‘Big Apple’ and realize his innovative and transformative agenda.

The socialist system has not been tried out in NYC or anywhere else in the US before due to the lingering effects of The Second Red Scare heralded by US Senator Joseph McCarthy during the 1940s.

The capitalist democratic system in place in NYC has supported mainly the elite and the rich as well as the upper middle class and there are housing shortages, exorbitant rents, unemployment, corruption, poor municipal administration and other issues that affected the poorer section of society. 

Zohran Mamdani exploited these issues effectively with his photogenic personality and articulated speeches unlike the other three contenders who had nothing new to offer except rely mainly on slow-moving conservative reforms that could hardly match the pace of population growth and the increasing incidences of poverty among the city dwellers.

Homelessness, poverty, costly transport, municipal woes, the imbalance between the rich and the poor, and with some sections of the city being in run-down conditions—called for radical changes.

The problems that NYC faces are also reflective of many other US cities which have undergone rapid urban deterioration and are facing aging infrastructure due to lack of funds.

Mamdani represents a call for renewal and change to overcome these man-made underlying problems that are mainly due to discrimination, poor administration, wasteful expenditure and corruption.

NYC’s big budget is not being used for the poorer sections of the city but to prop up the sections with the skyscrapers and the financial district.

A lot of funds is also utilized to maintain the affluent sections of the city perhaps to impress the world leaders and their delegations coming for the UN meetings.

Mamdani’s mission now is to catalyze his vision of making NYC great again (to borrow President Trump’s words) and he needs to tone down his political pronouncements and rhetoric and concentrate on his mammoth task.

He needs to make a success of the high profile position as NYC Mayor for his future in a tough US political environment.

Already, some in India have likened him to ex-Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who had a new socialist vision of transforming the Indian capital with free or subsidized public services and a corruption- free administration. In the end it was the opposite that happened. 

Some mention must also be made of the rapid progress and gains of the resourceful South Asians in the political and corporate sectors in the English-speaking countries such as the UK, US, Canada and Australia. and also in some Commonwealth nations.

Fluency in the English language gives these migrants a headstart compared to other newcomers.

They owe all their educational and intellectual advantages to their English education.

Mamdani is the latest epitome and exemplar of this British legacy to the sub-continent.

Millions of South Asians, especially those in India, have a fond affection for English, which they master with love. It is no wonder then that they make their mark in the world quickly!

(V. Thomas has been regularly contributing to Malaysian newspapers for the last 40 years.)