In general, you will agree, the New Year has not brought good news. It hasn’t lifted our spirits. Fortune tellers have warned us that it will likely be a violent and chaotic year. That also seems to be the legacy that 2025 has left.
And so, I was ready to write a column to project this sense of sadness. If you’ve read and listened to the year-end reviews in the mainstream media, you’ll have evidence to make a similar assessment. Even this wedding season allows guests to grumble together amidst all that glamor and glitz.
But after midnight on Thursday, as I waited for 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 in history? Isn’t 2026 now the year of Mamdani?
We have already experienced the excitement and magic of how a 34-year-old Muslim of South Asian parents was elected mayor of the most important city in the world in a country that had elected Donald Trump as president a year earlier. First, it was Mamdani’s nomination in the Democratic primary and then the election itself. The world has witnessed a new type of revolution in a democratic environment.
I would like to say that as we rejoice in the glory of Mamdani, we can leave the world behind for the moment. However, there was a strange reminder that the world cannot be left behind. As it happened, details about the tragedy in which about 40 people died when a fire swept through a bar in a Swiss ski resort emerged around the same time the media was reporting on the opening in New York.
In any case, anywhere in the world and particularly in the United States, the news that mattered was the beginning of a new era in New York. For many, there would still be a sense of disbelief that such a young man, a self-proclaimed socialist and Muslim, would be in charge of the richest city in the world. This is how miracles happen.
I am sure there will be millions in far corners of the world who witnessed that ceremony and were overwhelmed with emotion, just like me. It’s really rare to have this experience, to feel like you’re an observer of history in the making. Yes, Sadiq Khan also made history when he was elected mayor of London, the largest city in the world before New York, and I’ll talk about that in a bit.
I need a pause to say something about my fascination with New York, the city par excellence. Reading about it in literature and seeing its impressive grandeur in Hollywood films in my youth had awakened a deep longing to visit the city and walk its streets. Now that I have gotten to know the city through my intermittent visits, the charm and mystery of what it really is remains. I keep reading about it, mainly in memoirs and biographies. New York, New York.
What will Mamdani do with his promises? Let me go back to the inauguration. In fact, before the noon public event, attended by thousands of shivering supporters in sub-zero temperatures, a modest swearing-in ceremony was held shortly after midnight.
In his first speech as mayor he uttered these headline-making words: “Starting today we will govern expansively and boldly.” He assured New Yorkers that he intended to carry out his affordability agenda and would refuse to “reset expectations” about what the government can and should do for the working class and the underserved. “I was elected a democratic socialist and I will govern as a democratic socialist,” he said.
Separate reports in American and foreign media say he took the oath on the Quran. Senator Bernie Sanders took the oath of office with Mamdani resting his hand on two Qurans held by his wife Rama Duwaji.
There are stories about the origin of those two Qurans.
As I said, history was also made when Sadiq Khan, son of a Pakistani bus driver, was elected mayor of London. He had taken an oath on the Quran and this was widely noted and commented on. By the way, he made history again by being elected mayor for a third term in 2024.
The occasion on which he took the oath on the Quran for the first time occurred earlier, when he became a member of the Queen’s Privy Council in 2009. The BBC reported on an anecdote about it that became well known. Buckingham Palace called Sadiq Khan to ask if he would take the oath before the Queen and what type of Bible he would like.
Sadiq Khan, quoted by the BBC, said: “I swear by the Koran. I am a Muslim.” They said they did not have a Koran. Could you bring yours? In Sadiq’s words: “So I went to Buckingham Palace with my Quran and then they gave it back to me and I said, ‘No, can I leave it here for the next person’?”
On Thursday, after Mamdani, two other senior officials were sworn in. One of them said: “How remarkable it is that today on these steps we have three oaths. One by a leader who uses the Koran, one by a leader who uses a Christian Bible, and one by a leader who uses a Chumash or Hebrew Bible. I am proud to live in a city where this is possible.”
Sure. But many of us who are not New Yorkers will be watching closely what these leaders do and how it will affect the rest of the country. What is already obvious is that the left is on the rise in New York. In his speech, Bernie Sanders thanked New York “for inspiring our nation” from coast to coast. I wish I could say this for the rest of the world.
The writer is an experienced journalist. He can be contacted at: [email protected]
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of PakGazette.tv.
Originally published in The News
