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"I am young. I am Muslim. I am a democratic socialist. And I refuse to apologise for any of these."
Zohran Mamdani's speech after winning the New York mayoral election, as with much of his campaign, was a masterclass in political communication. More than anything else, Mamdani's campaign deserves credit for overcoming one question posed by critics as well as sceptics: How can a Muslim candidate win in a city that witnessed the 9/11 terror attacks?
The importance of how this obstacle was overcome goes beyond Mamdani, New York or even the United States. It has a message for minorities who have been vilified and oppressed in different parts of the world, including Muslims in India.
Mamdani didn't win despite 9/11. He won partly because of what happened in its aftermath. This article will show how.
Understanding 9/11 and its Consequences
The attacks of September 11 were, no doubt, a hugely traumatic event for New Yorkers and Americans as a whole. It was a moment when Americans stood united in their grief, shock and rage.
However, when the so-called 'War on Terror' was being waged, with large-scale bombings of civilian targets in Afghanistan, many conscientious Americans objected.
Some were also shocked by hate attacks on Muslims and Sikhs (mistaken to be Muslims) that took place within American soil immediately after 9/11.
The numbers may have been small but there were many Americans who didn't want their grief weaponised against innocent people domestically or abroad. Disproportionate violence may enjoy widespread support for some time, but sooner or later, there are bound to be some people who begin sympathising with the victims and hating the oppressors.
Then came the invasion of Iraq, projected as a continuation of the 'War on Terror' by the then-Bush administration. Even polls at the time of the invasion said that 24-27 percent Americans opposed the war. By 2007, this increased to about 60 percent. An Axios poll from 2023 showed that 61 percent Americans felt that the Iraq war was a mistake in hindsight.
Even many of those who considered the war on Al Qaeda a justified reaction to 9/11, weren't convinced about the Iraq War. Later revelations on the false pretext of WMDs further delegitimised this war.
The Gaza Factor
The genocide in Gaza was a major reason behind Mamdani's win, more so in the Democratic Party primary earlier this year.
According to a poll by Data for Progress during the primary, 62 percent of Mamdani voters cited his support for the Palestinian cause as a motivating reason for choosing him. This is significant.
Nearly two in three Mamdani voters picked him over Andrew Cuomo, Eric Adams and others due to his support for Palestine and opposition to Israel's genocide in Gaza.
The same survey found that 27 percent Democratic voters overall (not just Mamdani supporters) said that “US foreign policy and relations with Israel” played a role in their vote.
According to a Pew Survey from October 2025 (nationwide sample, not just New Yorkers), 59 percent Americans have a negative view of the Israeli government. 39 percent Americans feel Israel has gone too far, as opposed to 26 percent who support their approach.
Andrew Cuomo may have been wrong about a lot, but he is right when he said that many young people backed Mamdani over him during the primary because they were emotional about what's happening in Gaza.
Again, we come back to the point about disproportionate violence. If a small minority was opposed to the War on Terror immediately post 9/11, it increased to a majority of the American population during the middle of the Iraq War, even if a big part of it was due to body-bags coming back home rather than Iraqi civilian casualties.
But the Overton Window really shifted during the Gaza genocide. Public opinion decisively turned against the oppressor, more so among the youth. It is this shift that made a Mamdani win possible.
Message for Oppressed Minorities
It is inevitable that at some point, oppression and disproportionate violence will provoke the revulsion of some of those in whose name it is being carried out. It may be one person or a handful of people to begin with. It may attain critical mass at some point or it may not. But the revulsion against it is inevitable.
It is this revulsion that creates space for engagement between the oppressed and conscientious objectors among the oppressor community. It may also foster dialogue between different kinds of oppressed communities.
Zohran Mamdani benefited from the fact that the coalition of different minority communities and conscientious ones among the majority attained a critical mass in New York. He understood this very well. So even though his campaign was focused on affordability, the meta-narrative was always a 'fight against tyranny'.
He had a decisive lead among most minority ethnic groups but also younger white voters and younger Jewish voters. Among Jews between 18-44 years of age, Mamdani is said to have secured two-thirds of the votes according to one poll. And he accomplished this by embracing his Muslim identity, not hiding it nor making it the sole focus of his campaign. He focused on the commonalities in the discrimination that different oppressed groups face and created a coalition between them.
Herein lies a message for oppressed minorities, including Muslims in India.
The injustices and vilification Muslims are being subjected to will, at some point, provoke an introspection among sections of the majority community. It may be just among a handful of people as of now and may take years to attain a critical mass necessary for change. It may never even reach that level. However, it has already created a solidarity with another oppressed minority, Sikhs, as was clear during the anti-CAA protest, farmers' protest and more recently, the Punjab floods. One thing is certain: injustice carries with it the seeds of its own destruction. To quote Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar:
"Qatl-e-Hussain asl mey marg-e-Yazid hai
Islam zinda hota hai har Karbala ke baad"
(“The killing of Husain is, in truth, the death of Yazid. Islam is revived after every Karbala.”)