How Mamdani’s New York win marks a ‘Kejriwal moment’ in US politics

There are many similarities in the way both emerged as underdogs to record victories in an urban landscape, Mamdani in New York and Kejriwal in Delhi in 2013.

In 2013, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government led by Manmohan Singh was plagued by corruption charges and policy paralysis, setting the perfect stage for Arvind Kejriwal’s anti-corruption message. He made disenchanted younger voters fall in love with politics again. His Aam Aadmi Party came as a breath of fresh air in a political environment that was seen as polluted by everyday corruption, which entrenched political actors, mostly dynasts, refused to see.

Similarly, Mamdani came on the plank of affordability in a city plagued by the unbearable cost of living. The economic, social, and cultural chaos sown by Donald Trump enabled his rise from an almost obscure state assemblyman to a Democratic contender for the mayor’s post and then to a resounding victory against a political dynast, Andrew Cuomo.

Like Kejriwal, Mamdani is also a political communicator par excellence, who could read the pulse of New York and speak to voters in a language they understood.

Both effectively used social media to send their respective messages across and made their opponents look like relics of a bygone era.

Both, Kejriwal was, and Mamdani is unapologetic about their identity and the message they stand for.

Kejriwal, after his miscalculated resignation in 2013, returned to power in 2015 and, after taking oath as chief minister of the city-state, vowed to end what he called “VIP culture” and sang “Insan ka insan se bhaichara, yahi paigam hamara” from the Bollywood movie Paigam. It didn’t matter that he was out of tune and sounded hoarse; people listened to him with rapt attention and sang along.

After his victory, Mamdani, 34, too, told his cheering voters, “I am young. I am Muslim. I am a democratic socialist. And most damning of all, I refuse to apologise for any of this.”

The sudden rise of Kejriwal and Mamdani was partly due to the unique composition and issues of their areas of operation, India’s national capital, Delhi, and America’s largest city, New York.

And both have or had extremely hostile relationships with the chief executives of their respective countries.

Kejriwal made it a point to blame Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not allowing him to work for the people of Delhi, and President Donald Trump has already made known his hostility towards Mamdani, threatening to cut federal money for New York. But Mamdani, too, didn’t budge and told Trump after his victory, “Donald Trump, I have four words for you: turn the volume up.”

But after a decade, Kejriwal has lost Delhi and also his sheen; he looks and acts like a regular politician, with his anti-corruption crusader image in shambles. His national ambitions didn’t materialize as fast as he hoped, perhaps miscalculating that what worked in Delhi, due to its unique composition of an urban electorate, would work pan-India.

It is yet to be seen where Mamdani will be a decade from now. But he would do a great service to his voters if he learned from Kejriwal’s mistakes and focused on delivering what he has promised to the voters of New York rather than getting into duels with Trump.

In his case, the Democratic establishment is also mindful that Mamdani’s appeal and message are city-centric and that they need a centrist, not a left-of-centre, approach if they want to beat Republicans, especially in battleground states in the 2026 midterms.

But the Democrats would need to learn from Mamdani’s campaign (most of the Democratic establishment figures have just ignored him till now) and adapt it according to the landscape they will be operating in, what could be called following “best practices” in corporate jargon.

Besides, it is also a blessing in disguise for Mamdani that since he is not a natural-born citizen of the US, he cannot become president of the country. So, unlike in Kejriwal’s case, a major distraction is already out of the picture for Mamdani.

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