Watch: Zohran Mamdani’s ‘Dream’ resonates with Indian Muslims
No matter what the outcome of the New York Mayor Election will be. But, Mamdani deserves praise for bringing to the fore so forcefully the plight of Muslims living in most parts of the world today
Zohran Mamdani is here again. Two days after explaining why he criticizes Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP, the New York Mayor hopeful in a new video described in details what it meant to be a Muslim nowadays.
Zohran Mamdani, who is running for the New York Mayor, voting for which is scheduled to be held on November 04, 2025, shared his experience, and the experience of around 10 million Muslims living in New York.
“Treated like strangers in own country and living under constant stress and threat”, Mamdani said.
“Repeatedly mocked and laughed at, labeled an extremist, called a terrorist and a supporter of global Jihad”, he said.
Mamdani recalled how his opponents are making fun of his eating habits and Halal food. He also referred to his aunt who stopped taking the subway after September 11th because she did not feel safe in her Hijab.
Mamdani also described how every Muslim in New York has been “marked as the other, who is randomly selected in a way that rarely feels random, who feels that they carry a stain that can never quite be cleaned.”
The New York Mayor hopeful also recalled how Muslims are treated as suspects, while on road and airport, the moment their identities are revealed.
Zohran Mamdani also explained how Muslim students are treated in schools and how terrorist tag sprayed on Mosques and Muslim faith centres, and all these things were done with complete impunity.
“…To be Muslim in New York is to expect indignity. But indignity does not make us distinct. There are many New Yorkers who face it. It is the tolerance of that indignity that does”, he said.
Mamdani said despite challenges and facing unsolicited treatment, he worked very hard to become acceptable to all and to be treated at par with other, but he was wrong.
“I thought that if I behaved well enough or bit my tongue enough in the face of racist baseless attacks while returning back to my central message, it would allow me to be more than just my faith… I was wrong”, he said.
“The dream of every Muslim is simply to be treated the same as any other New Yorker. And yet for too long, we have been told to ask for less than that and to be satisfied with whatever little we receive”, he added.
Islamophobia is not seen as inexcusable… People are free to incite violence against Muslims and mosques, and nobody will even condemn, Zohran Mamdani said.
Zohran Mamdani, who has Indian roots, in the little over six minute video has summarized the plight of every Muslim living in most part of the world today…
The plight of Muslims in the United Kingdom where only two days ago the government announced additional fund for the protection of Muslims and safety of Muslim community centers, faith schools and mosques…
The plight of Indian Muslims who are not as lucky as their counterparts in the UK as the attacks against them, their properties and their mosques are becoming routine, systematic and done with full government support.
No matter what the outcome of the New York Mayor Election will be. But, Mamdani deserves praise for bringing to the fore so forcefully the plight of Muslims living in most parts of the world today…
Mamdani deserves praise for sharing with the world the dream of Muslims to be treated equally…
Mamdani deserves praise for calling upon the world to end the vicious cycle of hate…
Mamdani deserves praise for forcefully telling to the world …
No More…
Watch: Zohran Mamdani
The dream of every Muslim is simply to be treated the same as any other New Yorker.
— Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@ZohranKMamdani) October 25, 2025
And yet, for too long, we have been told to ask for less than that, and endure hatred and bigotry in the shadows.
No more. pic.twitter.com/B7BWrifQ1f
Full Transcript
Six years ago, shortly after I had announced I was running for assembly, a well-meaning Muslim uncle pulled me aside. He smiled softly and looked at me with care. In a quiet voice, he told me I did not have to tell people I was a Muslim. His eyes kind, his beard proud and his face heavy with the implication of the unsaid.
I had not learned the lesson that he had been taught, time and again. It is the lesson that safety could only be found in the shadows of our city that it is in those shadows alone where Muslims could embrace the fullness of our own identities. And that if we are to emerge from them then it is in those shadows where we must leave our faith.
These are the lessons that so many Muslim New Yorkers have been taught again and again. And over these last few days, these are the lessons that have become the closing message of Andrew Cuomo, Curtis Sliwa, and Eric Adams.
Yesterday, Andrew Cuomo laughed and agreed when a radio show host said that I would cheer another 9/11. Yesterday, Eric Adams said that we can't let our city become Europe. He compared me to violent extremists, and he lied when he said that our movement seeks to burn churches and destroy communities.
The day before that, Curtis Sliwa slandered me from a debate stage. When he claimed that I supported global Jihad.
Every day, Superpack ads imply that I am a terrorist or mock the way I eat, push polls that ask New Yorkers questions like whether they support invented proposals to make Halal mandatory or political cartoons that represent my candidacy as an airplane hurtling towards the World Trade Center.
But I do not want to use this moment to speak to them any further. I want to use this moment to speak to the Muslims of the city. I want to speak to the memory of my aunt who stopped taking the subway after September 11th because she did not feel safe in her Hijab.
I want to speak to the Muslim city worker, whether they teach in our schools or walk the beat for the NYPD, New Yorkers all make daily sacrifices on behalf of the city only to see their leaders spit in their face.
I want to speak to every child who grows up in New York, marked as the other, who is randomly selected in a way that rarely feels random, who feels that they carry a stain that can never quite be cleaned.
Growing up in the shadow of 9/11, I have known what it means to live with an undercurrent of suspicion. I will always remember the disdain I faced, the way my name could immediately become Muhammad, and how I could return to my city, only to be asked in a double-mirrored room at the airport if I had any plan of attacking it.
And since I was very young, I have known that I was spared the worst of it. I was never pressured to be an informant like a classmate of mine. I have never had the word terrorist spray painted on my garage as one of my staff had to endure. My mosque has never been set on fire.
To be Muslim in New York is to expect indignity. But indignity does not make us distinct. There are many New Yorkers who face it. It is the tolerance of that indignity that does.
Since I announced my candidacy for Mayor one year ago yesterday, I've sought to be the candidate fighting for everyday New Yorkers, not simply the Muslim candidate. I've carried these indignities with me each moment of this race, doing so all the while as the first major Muslim candidate for mayor in New York City history.
I thought that if I could build a campaign of universality, I could define myself as the leader I aspire to be, one representing every New Yorker, no matter their skin color or religion.
I thought if I worked hard enough, it would allow me to be that leader.
I thought that if I behaved well enough or bit my tongue enough in the face of racist baseless attacks while returning back to my central message, it would allow me to be more than just my faith.
I was wrong.
No amount of redirection is ever enough.
In doing this, I told the wide-eyed young boy in Jackson Heights, or the first-time voters in Parkchester, that they too should remain in the shadows. I am becoming that same uncle who took me aside.
No more.
The dream of every Muslim is simply to be treated the same as any other New Yorker. And yet for too long, we have been told to ask for less than that and to be satisfied with whatever little we receive.
No more.
For as long as we have lived, we have known that no matter what anyone says, there are still certain forms of hate acceptable in this city today.
Islamophobia is not seen as inexcusable. One can incite violence against our mosques and know that condemnation will never come.
Elected officials in this city can sell T-shirts calling for my deportation without fear of any accountability.
The consequences are stark.
More than one million Muslim New Yorkers exist in this city, only to be made to feel as if guests in our own home.
No more.
We stand on the precipice of an election, but that is not what today is about. We know that in less than two weeks, we will say goodbye to a disgraced former governor and our current indicted Mayor.
The bigger question is whether we are willing to say goodbye to something much larger. It is whether we are willing to say goodbye to anti-Muslim sentiment that has grown so endemic in our city that when we hear it, we know not whether the words were said by a Republican or by a Democrat, we know only that it was spoken in the language of the politics of this city.
Also Read: I am a Salafi, and I am not a terrorist
In an era of ever diminishing bipartisan, Islamophobia has emerged as one of the few areas of agreement. And while I appreciate all who have rushed to my defense over the past two days, I think of those Muslims in this city who do not have the luxury of being the Democratic nominee, who do not have the luxury of being deemed worthy of solidarity.
While my opponents in this race have brought this hatred to the forefront, this is just a glimpse into what so many Muslims have had to endure every day across the five boroughs that we call home.
And while it would be easy to say that this is not who we are as a city, we know the truth. This is who we have allowed ourselves to become.
A question lies before each of us.
Will we continue to accept a narrow definition of what it means to be a New Yorker that makes smaller the number of those guaranteed a life of dignity?
Will we remain in the shadows?
Or will we together step into the light?
There are 11 days remaining until election day. I will be a Muslim man in New York City each of those 11 days, and every day that follows after that.
I will not change who I am.
I will not change how I eat.
I will not change the faith I am proud to belong to.
But there is one thing I will change.
I will no longer look for myself in the shadows.
I will find myself in the light.
Thank you...
[All images shared by Zohran Mamdani on X.]
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