Zionism, Hindutva and the Capitalist Class Target Mamdani in New York

Vinod Mubayi

It is a revealing but hardly unexpected development that Zionists and the Hindutva crowd would gang up to oppose the candidacy and campaign of Zohran Mamdani, the candidate of the Democratic Party for Mayor of New York City. Revealing because it shows clearly what Zionists and Hindutva supporters are–ethnonationalist fascists with a fanatical hatred of Muslims.

Mamdani is the son of Prof Mahmood Mamdani, a noted academic at Columbia University, who is of Gujarati Muslim origin born in Uganda. His mother is the well-known filmmaker Mira Nair, who is of Punjabi Hindu origin. Zohran himself was born in Uganda but moved to the US along with his parents at a young age. Zohran is a member of DSA (Democratic Socialists of America), who currently represents a district in Queens in the New York State Assembly. He was a relatively unknown political figure, polling in the 1 percent range last February when he began his campaign for mayor as a candidate in the Democratic Party primary election. His decisive victory in this election over older, better-known, and vastly better funded political opponents such as former NY governor Andrew Cuomo stunned the ruling establishment of the Democratic Party that has yet to recover from this result.

Mamdani’s victory is based squarely on the progressive pro-working people policies he promoted: a rent-freeze on the apartments under rent control, free public buses, non-profit city owned groceries, and free childcare for poor families paid for by a tax on millionaires. This platform, immensely popular with the city’s working-class majority, naturally elicited howls of protest from Wall St and the business community. New York City after all is the nerve centre of global capitalism, home to many of the world’s largest capitalist enterprises. Some commentators noted that Mamdani’s platform would have been relatively commonplace for many in the Democratic Party in many major cities decades ago. As Ross Barkan wrote in a recent op-ed in the New York Times:

“Mr Mamdani’s leftist agenda is far more rooted in the American tradition than his fiercest critics would ever admit. The democratic socialism he embraces is not so different from the “sewer socialism” that found success in American cities a century ago, especially in Milwaukee. The Milwaukee socialists built a world-class parks system, added drinking-water fountains, went after restaurant owners for serving contaminated food and forced factory owners to install heating systems and toilets. Just as important, they were never embroiled in corruption scandals. This should ultimately be Mr Mamdani’s goal: to manage the city competently and fairly and to introduce beneficial public goods.”

Another example from New York City itself is the American Labour Party politician Vito Marcantonio who represented New York’s East Harlem constituency in the US House of Representatives for three terms from 1939-51, considered himself a staunch socialist, and advocated for the rights of the working class, the poor and the marginalised like the black Americans, victims of the widespread racism of that era. Much of Mamdani’s platform and programme follows in that tradition. It is a striking testament to the success of neoliberal capitalism in shifting US politics so much to the right that the history of this pro-working class and pro-poor democratic socialist tradition in urban America has been largely forgotten by the mainstream media and socialism itself has become just a word of cheap abuse.

However, while the hostility of capitalists and business groups to DSA member Mamdani can be taken as a given, the extreme opposition of the Zionists and Hindutva’s supporters needs to be explained beyond their hatred of Mamdani’s Muslim faith. From his early student days, Mamdani has been a steadfast supporter of Palestinian rights and a vocal critic of Israel’s denial of those rights; the genocide being currently perpetrated in Gaza has naturally intensified Mamdani’s criticism of the Israeli government. New York City is a town that has the largest Jewish population in the world apart from Tel Aviv and its support for Israel has until now been regarded as automatic. But this could now be changing within the Jewish community in New York. In a news conference during the primary campaign, Mamdani reminded the audience that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu had been designated as a war criminal by the International Criminal Court (ICC) and that if he (Mamdani) was elected Mayor he would order Netanyahu’s arrest in compliance with ICC’s instructions if and when the Israeli leader visited New York. This naturally led to howls of protest in the right-wing media and among US politicians in thrall to the notorious AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee), that has not only funded (bribed may be a more accurate description) US politicians for many decades but also intervened to destroy the careers of progressive politicians like Representatives Jamaal Bowman or Cori Bush who dared to question the divine right of Israel to unlimited and eternal financial and military support from the United States of America to impose its will in the Middle East region. This kowtowing to Zionist right-wing ideology now seems to have diminished somewhat among US Jews in the wake of Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labour in the Clinton Administration, who is himself Jewish, stated he was “deeply anti-Netanyahu and his government,” called Netanyahu a “war criminal” and Israel’s actions in Gaza a war crime and genocide. The presence of a significant number of young advisers of Jewish ancestry on Mamdani’s team also points to the decline in support for right-wing Zionism among the US Jewish population.

Meanwhile, at a town hall meeting for candidates ahead of the Democratic Party mayoral primary, Mamdani, asked if he would meet with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as New York Mayor said he would not, and labelled Modi a “war criminal” for his role in the Gujarat anti-Muslim pogrom of 2002 where well over a thousand Gujarati Muslims were brutally massacred when Modi was Gujarat Chief Minister.(It is useful to recall that Modi was denied a US visa for almost a decade on the grounds of severe violations of religious freedom for his role in the pogrom and the ban was lifted only when Modi became Prime Minister). This remark appears to have served as a red rag to the Hindutva right-wing who began a systematic assault on Mamdani, both in the US and in India. In the US, this has taken the form of personal attacks on Mamdani’s faith and politics by groups like the Hindu American Foundation and support for his possible opponents in the forthcoming elections while in India he was smeared as a “jihadi” on pro-BJP news channels and attacked by some BJP politicians as “sounding more Pakistani than Indian.”The Indian state under the Modi regime is obviously complicit in these attacks. Mamdani’s consistent denunciation of Israel for its actions in Gaza is another factor in Hindutva’s opposition to him. As right-wing ethnonationalists Zionism and Hindutva share a common bond that finds expression on multiple levels, whether in critiquing Mamdani or in India opposing any open critique of Israel; a demonstration in New Delhi against Israeli genocide in Gaza was viciously attacked by a pro-BJP mob while the police in Mumbai denied a permit for a similar demo there. While the Hindutva groups have tried to play up “Hindu” opposition to Mamdani among the South Asian community, it appears this is restricted to some upper income groups as his campaign evinced a lot of support from working-class Indians, Nepalis, Bangladeshis, and other south Asians of all faiths. The New York Taxi Workers Alliance and the group DRUM (Desis Rising Up and Moving) were among the progressive groups supporting him and he gained a large number of votes in areas in New York that have a significant South Asian population.

In a city where the Democratic Party holds a 6 to 1 edge in voter registration, the Democratic candidate Mamdani would normally be expected to win. While some unions in New York like the health care workers and the teachers have announced their support for Mamdani, key national Democratic Party leaders, like Senate minority leader Schumer and House minority leader Jeffries have remained on the sidelines likely afraid of reprisals from AIPAC or their financial backers. But the business community has threatened to mobilise many millions of dollars for his likely opponents like the former New York governor Cuomo, who was defeated in the Democratic primary, and the current Mayor, Adams, who is running as an independent, as well as the Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa, a former member of a vigilante group Guardian Angels. President Donald Trump, moreover, weighed in with his usual abusive gibberish against Mamdani, posting the following on his website: “Zohran Mamdani, a 100% Communist Lunatic, has just won the Dem Primary, and is on his way to becoming Mayor. We’ve had Radical Leftists before, but this is getting a little ridiculous.” Trump also made some vague threats about a Federal Government takeover of New York, although their substance was quite unclear. In any case, one has to wait until the November election to find out if Mamdani was able to triumph over the opposition of the Zionists, the Hindutva crowd, Trump, and New York’s capitalist class.

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