Zohran Mamdani, the son of veteran film-maker Mira Nair and academic Mahmood Mamdani, a candidate for Mayor in New York City, has released his first ad in Hindi to reach South Asian voters.
Speaking in fluent Hindi, Mamdani peppers his video with old Bollywood film references and background music from SRK starrer Om Shanti Om. He also explains ‘Ranked choice voting’, the method in which voters rank candidate for an office in order of preference, using Mango lassi.
It comes as the Democratic primary election for Mayor is heating up and is inching towards election day on June 24.
What are Mamdani’s election promises?
The New York state Assembly member, who began campaigning for the Mayoral race last October, is running on cost of living crisis and affordability issues.
He promised to freeze the rent for 2.2 million New Yorkers living in rent stabilized apartments and build new housing, to make buses ‘fast and free’, universal child care and cheaper groceries.
Bollywood references:
In the ad, Mamdani says that the real choice in the primary is between him and former governor Andrew Cuomo. “If you are just tuning in, this is what Andrew Cuomo offers, which then cuts to the famous Bachchan dialogue from Deewar, ‘Mere paas buildings hai, property hai, bank balance hai, bungalow hai, kya hai tumhaare paas?’ He answers the question saying that the voters are on his side.
“We have raised 8 million dollars because of you and knocked more than 600,000 doors and are on the brink of electing NYC’s first South Asian mayor. I will make NYC affordable. New Yorkers can hardly afford food, clothing and housing but I am fighting to change that.”
He asks ‘Tumne kabhi kisi ko vote kiya? Kabhi kisi ko rank kiya?’ to spread rank choice voting awareness. He urges voters to rank him at number 1 and not to rank Andrew Cuomo. He asks voters to rank three other candidates in the race, Brad Lander, Adrienne Adams and Zellnor Myrie after him.
He closes the ad by saying, “Billionaires already have enough. Now it’s your time.” He became a US citizen in 2016, during Trump’s first term.
