Zohran Mamdani

The new Mayor of New York and at just 34, the youngest since 1892, is sworn in. He is the first Muslim and Indian American to lead the nation's largest city. Zohran Mamdani was born in Uganda, Africa, to parents of Indian descent and it was a childhood filled with bird song and nature. He was seven years old when his family moved to New York, to Manhattan's Upper West Side and that's where Mamdani began to make his mark. He started making music as rapper, Mr Cardamom but after releasing only a few songs, it seemed politics was a better fit.

Zohran Mamdani ran an impressive campaign, recruiting an army of volunteers 100,000 strong to pound the pavements and knock on doors. His social media videos in multiple languages credited with vastly increasing voter turnout from a range of South Asian communities. A left-wing democratic socialist, his message was laser focused on affordability; he promised to freeze the rents and make buses free, all paid for by a tax on New Yorkers making over $1 million per year. But now he's won the election can he actually deliver on those promises? Mark Coles hears from Mamdani's mother the filmmaker Mira Nair, colleagues and journalists to find out what shaped the man making history.

Contributors
Mira Nair - film maker, mother
Hari Kondabolu - standup comedian, friend
Prof Brian Purnell - chair of the Africana Studies Department at Bowdoin College
Cassie Wilson - volunteer for Mamdani's campaign, content creator and comedian
Jagpreet Singh - political organiser for South Asian communities in New York, DRUM Beats
Nada Tawfiq - BBC Correspondent in New York

Production
Presenter: Mark Coles
Producers: Phoebe Keane, Ben Crighton, Natasha Fernandes and Tom Farmer
Production Coordinator: Maria Ogundele
Sound: Gareth Jones
Editor: Justine Lang