A bud opens in NYC

Overall, you may agree, the New Year has not brought good tidings. It has not lifted our spirits. Soothsayers have warned us that it will likely be a violent, chaotic year. That also seems to be the legacy that 2025 has left behind.

And so, I was all set to write a column to project this sense of gloom. If you have read and heard the year-end reviews in the mainstream media, you will have evidence to make a similar assessment. Even this wedding season allows guests to grumble together amid all that glamour and glitter.

But after midnight on Thursday, while waiting for the live coverage of Zohran Mamdani's inauguration as the new mayor of New York City, I changed my mind. How could I have ignored this moment of history? Isn’t 2026 now the year of Mamdani?

We have already experienced the thrill and magic of how a 34-year-old Muslim of South Asian parents was elected the mayor of the foremost city of the world in a country that had elected Donald Trump as its president a year earlier. First, it was the nomination of Mamdani in the Democratic primary and then the election itself. The world has witnessed a new kind of revolution in a democratic setting.

I would want to say that while rejoicing in the glory of Mamdani, we can leave the world behind for the time being. However, there was an uncanny reminder that the world cannot be left behind. It so happened that details about the tragedy in which around 40 people were killed when fire ripped through a bar in a Swiss ski resort had emerged at about the same time that the media was reporting the inauguration being held in New York.

Anyhow, anywhere in the world and particularly in the US, the beginning of a new era in New York was the news that mattered. For many, there still would be a sense of disbelief that such a young man who was a proclaimed socialist and a Muslim was taking charge of the richest city in the world. This is how miracles happen.

I am sure there will be millions in distant corners of the world who watched that ceremony and were overwhelmed with emotion — like me. It is really rare to have this experience, to feel that you are an observer of history in the making. Yes, Sadiq Khan had also made history when he was elected the mayor of London, the greatest city in the world before New York — and I will come to that in a while.

I need a pause to say something about my fascination with New York, the ultimate city. Reading about it in literature and watching its awe-inspiring grandeur in Hollywood movies in my youth had stirred a deep longing to visit the city and walk its streets. Now that I have come to know the city through my intermittent visits, the allure and the mystery of what it really is persist. I continue to read about it, mostly in memoirs and biographies. New York, New York.

What will Mamdani do with his promises? Let me go back to the inauguration. Actually, before the midday public event, which was attended by thousands of shivering supporters, in sub-zero temperatures, a modest swearing-in ceremony was held just after midnight.

In his first speech as mayor, he spoke these headline-making words: "Beginning today, we will govern expansively and audaciously". He assured New Yorkers that he intended to carry out his affordability agenda and would refuse to "reset expectations" for what government can and should do for the working class and the unprotected. "I was elected as a democratic socialist and I will govern as a democratic socialist", he said.

Separate reports in American and foreign media say he took his oath on a Quran. Senator Bernie Sanders administered the oath of office with Mamdani resting his hand on two Qurans held by his wife Rama Duwaji.

There are stories about where those two Qurans came from.

As I said, history was also made when Sadiq Khan, son of a Pakistani bus driver, was elected mayor of London. He had taken his oath on a Quran and this was widely noted and commented upon. By the way, he again made history when he was elected mayor for the third term in 2024.

The occasion when he first took his oath on a Quran had occurred earlier, when he became a member of the Queen’s Privy Council in 2009. An anecdote about it was reported by the BBC and it became well-known. Buckingham Palace called Sadiq Khan to ask if he would be sworn in before the Queen and what sort of Bible he would like.

Sadiq Khan, as quoted by BBC, said: "I swear on the Quran. I’m a Muslim". They said they did not have a Quran. Could he bring his own? In Sadiq's words: "So I went to Buckingham Palace with my Quran and afterwards they returned it and I said, 'No, can I leave it here for the next person'?".

On Thursday, after Mamdani, two other senior officials took oath. One of them said: "How remarkable it is that on these steps today, we have three swearings-in. One by a leader using a Quran, one by a leader using a Christian Bible and one by a leader using a Chumash, or Hebrew Bible. I am proud to live in a city where this is possible".

Sure. But so many of us who are not New Yorkers will be closely watching what these leaders do and how it will impact the rest of the country. What is already obvious is that the Left is ascendant in New York. In his speech, Bernie Sanders thanked New York "for inspiring our nation" from coast to coast. Wish he could say this for the rest of the world.

The writer is a senior journalist. He can be reached at: [email protected]

Disclaimer: The viewpoints expressed in this piece are the writer's own and don't necessarily reflect Geo.tv's editorial policy.

Originally published in The News