Zohran Mamdani sworn-in as New York City’s 112th Mayor, first on Quran

New York: Zohran Mamdani was formally sworn in as New York City’s 112th Mayor in a private ceremony held just moments into the New Year in an old subway station here.

The 34-year-old Indian-descent Queens state assemblyman became the first South Asian and Muslim elected to helm the largest city in the US.

Mamdani was sworn in at the old City Hall subway station at a private ceremony attended only by his family and close advisers, held around the stroke of midnight as the city ushered in the New Year.

He was sworn in on a Quran as the city’s 112th mayor — and its second-youngest — by state Attorney General Letitia James on Thursday morning below City Hall Park in a grand, abandoned old subway stop with his wife, artist Rama Duwaji, by his side.

Hours later, a ceremonial inauguration for Mamdani will be held outside City Hall, the seat of New York City government, on Thursday afternoon where Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont will administer the oath of office to the new Mayor.

Indian-descent Mamdani is the son of renowned filmmaker Mira Nair and Columbia University professor Mahmood Mamdani. He was born and raised in Kampala, Uganda and moved to New York City with his family when he was 7. Mamdani became a naturalised US citizen only recently in 2018.

Mamdani had earlier said that his swearing-in marks the “beginning of a new era for the city that puts working New Yorkers front and centre.”

On the choice of the old subway station as the venue for his historic swearing-in, the New York Times quoted Mamdani as saying that when the Old City Hall Station first opened in 1904 — one of New York’s 28 original subway stations — “it was a physical monument to a city that dared to be both beautiful and build great things that would transform working people’s lives." 

"That ambition need not be a memory confined only to our past, nor must it be isolated only to the tunnels beneath City Hall: it will be the purpose of the administration fortunate enough to serve New Yorkers from the building above.”

The New York Public Library announced on Wednesday that Mamdani will use a Quran from the collections of the Schomburg Centre for Research in Black Culture to take the oath of office at the midnight swearing-in ceremony on New Year’s Eve.

“This marks a significant moment in our city’s history, and we are deeply honoured that Mayor-elect Mamdani has chosen to take the oath of office using one of the Library’s Qurans,” said Anthony W. Marx, President and CEO of The New York Public Library.

"This specific Quran, which Arturo Schomburg preserved for the knowledge and enjoyment of all New Yorkers, symbolises a greater story of inclusion, representation, and civic-mindedness.” NYPL termed the selection of the Quran by the incoming administration as highly symbolic, both because of its connection to one of NYC’s most groundbreaking scholars and for its simple, functional qualities.

“The black and red ink, as well as the small, portable size, indicate this Quran was intended for an ordinary reader and everyday use. Although neither dated nor signed, the Quran’s minute naskh script and its binding, featuring a gilt-stamped medallion filled with a floral composition, suggest it was produced in Ottoman Syria in the 19th century,” it said.

Mamdani had registered a decisive and historic win at the polls in November as he defeated Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa and political heavyweight former New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an independent candidate and received US President Donald Trump’s endorsement only on the eve of the election.

In a fiery victory speech, Mamdani had challenged Trump on immigration, heralded the toppling of "political dynasty” and said his election symbolises “hope” over tyranny and "big money” as he cited former Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to assert that the city has stepped out from the “old into the new.”

Mamdani had invoked Nehru as he spoke about ushering in a new era in New York City politics.

“Standing before you, I think of the words of Jawaharlal Nehru: “A moment comes, but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance”.”

“Tonight, we have stepped out from the old into the new. So let us speak now, with clarity and conviction that cannot be misunderstood, about what this new age will deliver, and for whom,” he had said.