Zohran Mamdani addressed a cheering crowd in New York on Wednesday with words inspired by one of history’s defining moments, echoing India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. “A moment comes but rarely in history when we step out from the old to the new,” Mamdani declared, borrowing from Nehru’s famous midnight speech at India’s independence in 1947. He continued, “When an age ends and the soul of a nation finds utterance. Tonight we step out from the old to the new.”
The atmosphere was electric as Mamdani concluded his victory speech. The opening beats of the 2004 Bollywood hit Dhoom played throughout the hall, poignantly connecting Mamdani’s South Asian heritage with his new role as New York City’s first mayor of Indian origin. The celebration was then carried forward by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’ Empire State of Mind, a contemporary anthem that seemed to take on fresh significance as Mamdani made history.
Months before, Mamdani had woven Bollywood into his campaign language, a nod to his roots—his mother is acclaimed filmmaker Mira Nair, and his father, Mahmood Mamdani, is a Ugandan-born academic of Indian descent. Throughout his campaign, he also spoke to voters in Hindi via social media, using playful references and dialogues from popular Bollywood films. Invoking Nehru in his speech was Mamdani’s ultimate declaration of renewal and transformation.
Seventy-seven years earlier, in a sweltering Constituent Assembly hall in Delhi, Nehru delivered words of profound hope and responsibility: “Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge… at the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom.” Those stirring words marked the end of nearly two centuries of British colonial rule—and the dawn of India’s sovereignty.
Nehru’s speech, both celebratory and solemn, promised that freedom was not an end but a beginning—a call to tirelessly serve the nation’s millions suffering from poverty, ignorance, disease, and inequality. He urged unity, urging India to rise above “petty and destructive criticism” to build a society where all children could thrive.
Celebrated as one of history’s most powerful speeches, Nehru’s address electrified the nation with eloquence and emotion. Its resonance endures to this day, capturing the very spirit of a nation’s rebirth—a parallel Mamdani summoned to symbolize his own transformative victory in New York.
That historic night in Delhi saw leaders from diverse backgrounds join voices, with Nehru’s stirring rhetoric becoming the hallmark of India’s newfound freedom. Outside, citizens rejoiced together across religious lines, even as the subcontinent braced for the upheavals ahead.
Nehru’s stature as an orator was renowned, known for speeches that spanned politics, science, and ethics with ease and spontaneity. As he concluded, he reminded his countrymen that the real work had just begun: “There is no resting for any one of us till we redeem our pledge in full…”
Seven decades later, Zohran Mamdani’s New York victory reverberates with a similar promise—that of stepping confidently into a new era, facing the demands and hopes of today’s city with a vision drawn from storied pasts and vibrant futures.
