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Los Angeles Times
4 days ago
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
For many South Asians and Muslims, Mamdani's win in New York gives them hope
The success of Zohran Mamdani in New York City's Democratic primary for mayor is thrilling for Hari Kondabolu, a stand-up comedian who's been friends with him for 15 years. Mamdani stunned the political establishment when he declared victory in the primary on Tuesday, a ranked-choice election in which his strongest competition, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, conceded defeat. When he launched his campaign, the democratic socialist ranked near the bottom of the pack. Now, the 33-year-old state assemblyman has a chance to be New York City's first Asian American and Muslim mayor. Mamdani's family came to the United States when he was 7, and he became a citizen in 2018. He was born to Indian parents in Kampala, Uganda. For Kondabolu, this moment is not just exciting, but emotional. 'I think so many of us have had those experiences in New York of being brown and in a city that has always been really diverse and feels like ours. But after 9/11, like you start to question it like, is this our city too?' Kondabolu said. 'And 25 years later ... it's surreal, like this is the same city but it's not because we've elected this person.' Mamdani's campaign has piqued the interest of many Indian, Pakistani and other South Asian Americans, as well as Muslims — even those who may not agree with Mamdani on many issues. Some see his rise as a sign of hope in a city where racism and xenophobia erupted following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Many of New York City's more than 300,000 South Asian residents have been inspired by Mamdani's extraordinary trajectory. 'My mom was texting her friends to vote for him. I've never seen my mother do that before,' Kondabolu said. 'So the idea that it's gotten our whole family activated in this way — this is, like, personal.' Snigdha Sur, founder and chief executive of the Juggernaut, an online publication reporting on South Asians, has been fascinated by the response from some people in India and the diaspora. 'So many global South Asians ... they're like, 'Oh, this guy is my mayor and I don't live in New York City,'' Sur said. At the same time, some are also concerned or angered by Mamdani's past remarks about Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whom he called a 'war criminal.' In 2005, Washington revoked Modi's visa to the U.S., citing concerns that, as chief minister of the state of Gujarat, he did not act to stop communal violence during 2002 anti-Muslim riots that left more than 1,000 people dead. An investigation approved by the Indian Supreme Court later absolved Modi. Rights groups have accused Modi's government of widespread attacks and discrimination against India's Muslims and other minorities. In Michigan, Thasin Sardar has been following Mamdani's ascent online. When he first heard him, the candidate struck him as 'genuine' and he felt 'an instant connection,' he said. 'As a Muslim American, this victory puts my trust back in the people,' said Sardar, who was born and raised in India. 'I am happy that there are people who value the candidate and his policies more than his personal religious beliefs and didn't vote him down because of the color of his skin, or the fact that he was an immigrant with an uncommon name.' New York voter Zainab Shabbir said family members in California and elsewhere have also excitedly taken note. 'My family in California, they were very much like, 'Oh, it's so nice to see a South Asian Muslim candidate be a mayor of a major city,'' she said. A brother told her Mamdani's rise is a great example for his kids, she said. But the 34-year-old — who donated, voted and canvassed for Mamdani — said it was his vision for New York City that was the draw for her. She and her husband briefly chatted with Mamdani at a fundraiser and she found him to be 'very friendly and genuine.' She suspects that for some who aren't very politically active, Mamdani's political ascent could make a difference. 'There's a lot of Muslim communities like my parents' generation who are focused a lot more on the politics back home and less on the politics here in America,' said Shabbir. 'Seeing people like Zohran Mamdani be in office, it'll really change that perspective in a lot of people.' Supporters and pundits agree that Mamdani's campaign has demonstrated social media savvy and authenticity. He visited multiple mosques. In videos, he speaks in Hindi or gives a touch of Bollywood. Other South Asian American politicians such as Democratic Bay Area congressman Ro Khanna praised that. 'I love that he didn't run away from his heritage. I mean, he did video clips with Amitabh Bachchan and Hindi movies,' said Khanna, referencing the Indian actor. 'He shows that one can embrace their roots and their heritage and yet succeed in American politics.' But his triumph also reflects 'the urgency of the economic message, the challenge that people are facing in terms of rent, in terms of the cost of living, and how speaking to that is so powerful,' Khanna said. Tanzeela Rahman, a daughter of Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh, said she grew up 'very low income' in New York. 'I felt seen by him in a way politicians have not seen me ever,' the 29-year-old financial systems analyst said. 'I think very few people in government understand … how hard it is to survive in New York City.' She found Mamdani to be 'unabashedly Muslim' and also 'a voice, who, literally, to me sounds like a New Yorker who's stepping in and saying, 'Hey, let's reclaim our power,'' she said. While Mamdani has been speaking to the working class, he had a somewhat privileged upbringing. His mother is filmmaker Mira Nair and his father, Mahmood Mamdani, is a professor at Columbia University. He lived in Queens but attended the Bronx High School of Science. Even as a teen, he cared about social justice, recalled Kondabolu, his comedian friend. His campaign messaging on issues such as affordable housing and free bus rides might not resonate with South Asian households in New York City who have income levels above the median. But his campaign and 'great kind of sound bites' earned support from that demographic too, according to Sur. 'It was, I think, a surprise that he did so well among the wealthiest, including his own community,' Sur said. Mamdani's outspoken support for Palestinian causes and criticism of Israel and its military campaign in Gaza resonated with pro-Palestinian residents, including Muslims, but caused tension in the mayor's race. Some of his positions and remarks on the charged issue have drawn recriminations from opponents and some Jewish groups, though he's also been endorsed by some Jewish politicians and activists. Mamdani's success immediately elicited strong anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant rhetoric from some high-profile conservatives on social media, including pro-Trump media personality Charlie Kirk, who posted that 'legal immigration can ruin your country.' In response, Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), the youngest member of Congress, wrote on X: 'For years they sold people the lie of 'we have no problem if you come the right way!'' Mamdani's supporters aren't concerned that racism and Islamophobia will distract from his campaign. Those feelings clearly weren't 'enough for him to lose' the primary, Kondabolu said. 'There's a new generation that wants their voice heard, and that generation came out in full force, not just by voting, but by, like, getting all these other people to be emotionally invested in this candidate,' he said. 'That's extraordinary.' Tang and Fam write for the Associated Press. AP writer Matt Brown in Washington contributed to this report.
NDTV
18-06-2025
- Entertainment
- NDTV
"Amitabh Bachchan Should Have Married Rekha": What Umrao Jaan Director Told Actress's Biographer
It has been decades since Bollywood's biggest superstars, Amitabh Bachchan and Rekha, last shared screen space. But trust lovers and watchers of showbiz to never miss a what-could-have-been theory. Headlines on film portals once buzzed with reports of Rekha's rumoured association with Amitabh Bachchan. Then there was the entire casting and making of the movie Silsila by Yash Chopra, with the late director himself saying how he got actor and wife of Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, to agree to be on the same set as Big B and Rekha. What Umrao Jaan Director Said About Rekha And Amitabh Silsila hit the screens in 1981, the same year as Rekha's seminal film, Umrao Jaan. Umrao Jaan is set for a re-release later this month, and it is worth revisiting what director Muzaffar Ali once said about Rekha, and her relationship with Amitabh Bachchan. In Rekha's biography, Rekha: The Untold Story (Juggernaut, 2016), author Yasser Usman writes about director Muzaffar Ali telling him what he thought about the entire Rekha and Amitabh Bachchan saga. The Untold Story "She [Rekha] is a very sensitive woman... Amitabh Bachchan used to come and sit on our sets, during the Delhi shooting of Umrao Jaan. That's a fact. Whenever referring to Amitabh, she always spoke using 'inko, inhone', like women do who consider themselves married. I think she considered herself married," Muzaffar Ali told Yasser Usman, writes the latter in his book. The author goes on to write, "Unlike many of Rekha's and Amitabh's colleagues in the film industry, Muzaffar Ali was not cagey. He was direct and unequivocal: 'She is and she was in love with him. He should have definitely given her an identity. Amitabh should have married Rekha.'" A Marriage, A Rumour, A Movie, A Legend Amitabh Bachchan married fellow actor and his co-star of several films, Jaya Bachchan, in 1973. In the 80s, when rumours of Rekha's association with Amitabh Bachchan were all over glossy magazines, director Yash Chopra gave an interview to BBC Asia 's Sonia Deol about Silsila. Chopra said, "I was always on tenterhooks and scared because it was real life coming into reel life. Jaya is his wife and Rekha is his girlfriend; the same story is going on. Anything could have happened because they are working together." Silsila, a Yash Chopra film about an extramarital affair, did not find many takers in 1980s India. The film was declared a commercial flop. However, decades since, Silsila has gained a cult status; a legend that has endured, largely because of the trio at the centre: Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, and Rekha.
New Indian Express
17-06-2025
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Secularism's Old Soldier
After reading A Maverick in Politics 1991-2024 (Juggernaut), my response was that this is a book written by a brilliant mind. These are not the memoirs of a maverick but a brilliant ideologue caught in a time capsule. It encapsulates the tragedy of the author's life and career as he so honestly acknowledges: 'What remains are the memories and fantasies of yesteryear. …..Coping with failure was more personal. …I just never thought the Gandhi family that had brought me into politics would bowl me out too. Do I regret having quit the Foreign Service midstream to take the plunge into politics? Not for one second. I took my decision consciously, never looking back, knowing that it might end in disaster, not triumph….No, I regret nothing'. Unlike most who are 'born' into politics and do not switch from civil service to a completely different milieu, Mani, as we affectionately call him, refused after moving to politics, to change with the times, or accept that India had changed. He liked his time capsule and unlike Dr. Who, of BBC fame [a British science fiction programme produced by the BBC], refused to emerge from it. The consequences were clear and revealing and frequently tragic.
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Business Standard
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Business Standard
A S Dulat's new book explores betrayal, belief and Farooq's Kashmir
An Unlikely Friendship: The Chief Minister and the Spy Published by Juggernaut 289 pages ₹79 Anyone who knows A S Dulat will know that there cannot be a more unlikely spy: He is amiable, friendly, and operates on trust. His book about his friendship with one of Kashmir's tallest leaders, Farooq Abdullah, is as much a window into some of the most tumultuous and defining decades in the politics of the state as it is a gentle and non-judgemental appraisal of a complex and unpredictable political personality. Sheikh Abdullah and Farooq Abdullah have been the subject of many fascinating studies, including an outstanding biography of the Sheikh by Chitralekha Zutshi (though Mr Dulat differs with Zutshi on some facts and interpretations of events). The relationship between the father and son is important as it is part of Farooq's political inheritance: A mistrust of Delhi and a perennially thorny relationship with Pakistan which never forgave the father or the son for siding with India. The book explores Farooq's relationship with New Delhi under different dispensations. But on one point it is unequivocal — that he never, ever considered independence of Kashmir as a solution. The book describes his meeting with secessionist leader Yaseen Malik of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) at which Farooq lambasted him for violence against Kashmiris and about the JLKF's dreams of 'azaadi', telling him he was naive and living in a fool's paradise. Given this reality, the book argues, Delhi should have trusted Farooq unquestioningly — which it did not. In full knowledge that Farooq's succession had not been smooth and was challenged by his brother-in-law, Gul Mohammad Shah, in 1984, Delhi put its weight behind the Gul Shah faction of the National Conference, deputing Congress leader Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to support a coup against Farooq's government, dislodging him. There was a background to this, as there always is. But Mr Dulat notes regretfully that Kashmir ought to have been kept out of the kind of power politics that was in place elsewhere in India — it was too important to be trifled with. Farooq got the full-throated support of the Opposition. But it was, at the end of the day, the Opposition. He felt he had been betrayed twice over, Mr Dulat writes: Once by his family and then by the Congress led by Indira Gandhi, his extended family. Other betrayals followed. His right hand man, Saifuddin Soz, was working to undermine him by conducting a dialogue with the Kashmiri underground and the government. Rajiv Gandhi had little time for him, though the two had been good friends. The V P Singh years came and went but Farooq did not get his due. The problem was: No one knew whom to talk to in Kashmir. Dialogues with separatist leaders of the Shabir Shah variety were the flavour du jour. But Mr Dulat says he knew that the only currency that would work, both for Delhi and Srinagar, would be Farooq Abdullah. In 1993, P V Narasimha Rao's government installed the Department of Kashmir Affairs, headed by Rajesh Pilot. In 1994, the US changed its position, openly calling Kashmir disputed territory. Mr Dulat moved minor mountains to persuade the government to see reason and bring Farooq back in from the cold. This was done by making Farooq part of an all-party delegation to clarify to the world that no human rights violations were taking place in Kashmir as alleged by Pakistan. Farooq was superb. Not only did he speak as an Indian, he also challenged Pakistanis to speak to him in Kashmiri The 1996 Assembly elections in Kashmir were a turning point for the state and for Farooq himself — not the least because of kindly, understanding and benevolent statesmen in power in Delhi for however short a tenure, such as H D Deve Gowda and I K Gujral. When Atal Bihari Vajpayee came to power the Jammu & Kashmir Assembly passed a resolution seeking autonomy. Mr Dulat emphasised that the demand was for autonomy, not independence. At around this time, Farooq was made an offer that made his eyes sparkle. What if he were made vice-president of India? Vajpayee was agreeable, and things might have been different if that had happened, Mr Dulat says. It didn't and one more betrayal was added to the layer of mistrust. The National Conference lost the 2002 polls. By now, Omar Abdullah was set to replace Farooq. But as with the Sheikh and Farooq, Omar and Farooq too had their ups and downs.
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First Post
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- First Post
Netflix's 'The Royals' actress Bhumi Pednekar and Ananya Panday like Zoya Akhtar's post that says 'Industry people are shady'
One user commented- 'Totally agree — when the industry starts showing its shady side, it's the universe sending a clear sign.'⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ read more Zoya Akhtar, one of the most gifted filmmakers of the industry, has shared a post on Instagram that has gone viral. It says 'Industry people are shady.' Netflix's 'The Royals' actress Bhumi Pednekar and Ananya Panday liked the post as well. One user commented- 'Totally agree — when the industry starts showing its shady side, it's the universe sending a clear sign.'⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Sometimes you just have to read between the shadows and move like 'Kahin pe nigahen, kahin pe nishaana'👀 ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Here's to trusting those signs and playing the game smarter every time.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD In an interview with Juggernaut, the filmmaker addressed the much-talked about debate around nepotism. Speaking to the portal, she revealed, 'That is a conversation to be had. Everyone needs to have the same kind of education, job opportunities, et al. But when you turn around and say Suhana Khan shouldn't be in my film, it's banal because it's not going to change your life whether she's in my film or not. You have to talk about what is going to change your life.' Addressing the issue in another interview Agastya is Amitabh Bachchan 's grandson, Suhana is Shah Rukh Khan 's daughter, and Khushi is Boney Kapoor and the late Sridevi's daughter. In an interview with The Indian Express, Akhtar addressed the debate around nepotism in the film industry and said, 'There is definitely a conversation of have and have nots, there is definitely a conversation of people with privilege and those without.'
