Copyright mxmindia
Whatever you might feel about it, the election of the mayor of New York was the big story of the week. For instance, as soon as Zohran Mamdani’s election was announced, Indian TV people seemed really upset. For a number of reasons. One anchor was furious that Zohran Mamdani quoted Jawaharlal Nehru in his acceptance speech. I mean, how could he? Others were appalled that a Muslim had won in USA, especially one who had been vocal in his criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. O dear. How could he. Unlike most achievements by anyone of vaguely Indian origin which are claimed by Indians, Mamdani’s were overshadowed by his being unashamedly Muslim. O dear. How could he. But then, the usual, “yaay, an Indian” response kicked in. In its own way. Zohran Mamdani’s parents, both of Indian origin, were quite famous before Zohran became a politician. His mother, Mira Nair, is a celebrated filmmaker, with such critically acclaimed films as Salaam Bombay!, Mississippi Masala and Monsoon Wedding in her kitty. His father, Mahmood Mamdani is a well-respected academic and author, and currently head of anthropology and African studies at Columbia University. However, the media as it undergoes generational changes, happily forgets the past, even if it seems pretty recent for oldies like me. The headlines after Zohran’s win are quite amusing. ‘Meet Mira Nair, Zohran Mamdani’s 68-year-old mother who hit it big in Hollywood’ says Fortune magazine, for instance. Indian headlines are of course in their own category of “hmmm what is going on here”. The Times of India is excited by Zohran’s ‘lavish wedding’ in December last year, please note the use of the word “throwback” as if it was years ago: The Hindustan Times is even more excited by the woman who rejected Zohran on the very same dating app on which he might is wife! OMG! Can you believe it! India Today is in massive pseudo-serious mode and tells us how Zohran is a Gujarati, like Ambani and Adani, and his success is the story of the success of India’s two biggest business houses and the Indian diaspora from Gujarat. (Zohran’s mother is a Punjabi so there are possibilities for further articles on the great Punjabi diaspora, but never mind, patriarchy is everything!). You did not delve into this before he became mayor? Interesting. For the more serious angles, we have the BBC and the Hindu invoking the Nehru quotation: The Deccan Herald scraped the barrel for a Bengaluru connection (there is none): https://www.deccanherald.com/india/karnataka/bengaluru/why-bengalureans-were-rooting-for-zohran-mamdani-3789384 CNN looked at Zohran’s victory from the American political angle: The Guardian had a more nuanced perspective, finding that most of Zohran’s policies tagged “socialist” by Americans, are quite normal for Europeans: And then of course, the most expected American stories were about Donald Trump and his reactions, which veered from expected to interesting… But the biggest and most amusing meltdowns and jokes were on social media. The American rightwing went ballistic. One warned that New Yorkers should look forward to “Taqqiya”, Indians responded by asking if she meant “pillows” which is one of those bilingual puns. Indian liberals bemoaned the fact that India had no socialists. Which made many Indians over the age of 40 weep uncontrollably. Possibly Indian socialists also wept. The rightwing media put Jawaharlal Nehru down as a radical, which raised some eyebrows and created some laughs. In all this fun and nonsense, the best take came from the satirical website The Onion, which is not really unusual in these kooky-news times: O dear. How could they! Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She writes on MxMIndia on Tuesdays and Fridays. Her views here are personal.
