New York: Mamdani takes office as mayor of with the intention of ruling “audaciously” as a “democratic socialist.”

New York: Zohran Kwame Mamdani was elected mayor of New York, the biggest city in the United States and the financial hub, promising to govern “expansively and audaciously” as a “democratic socialist.”

Radical Democratic Social Senator Bernie Sanders swore him in at his official Mayoralty inauguration on New Year’s Day, claiming that he had defeated “the Democratic establishment, the Republican establishment, the president of the United States and some enormously wealthy oligarchs.”

Mamdani took the oath of office on the steps of City Hall, promising to reinstate big government and carry out the socialist policies he had advocated.

He said, “I won’t compromise my values out of concern that I’ll be viewed as radical.”

Restoring “the era of big government” was his pledge to “improve the lives of New Yorkers.”

Mamdani, a member of the Democratic Party’s Democratic Socialists faction, said, “We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.”

“Never flinches in the fight against corporate greed, and refuses to cower before challenges,” he said, describing his government.

He reiterated his campaign promises of free buses, free daycare for children aged six months and up, government-run stores, and a ban on rent hikes in city-regulated housing.Sanders, one of his mentors, said, “The billionaire class in this city and country must realize that they cannot have it all in America.” that everyone, not just a select few, should own America, our wonderful nation. And in New York City, that lesson starts now.

Mamdani is the first South Asian and Muslim mayor of the city, having been elected in November of last year. He is the firstborn child in Africa and a native of Uganda.

He is the son of Ugandan scholar Mahmood Mamdani, who identifies as Indian, and film director Mira Nair.

Imam Khalid Latif, who said in a speech that it would be a “different” New York where “a young immigrant democratic socialist can be bold enough to run and brave enough to win not by abandoning conviction but by standing firmly with it,” prayed to Allah before the official inauguration of his mayoralty began.

He came at the event in a regular cab, demonstrating his socialist credentials, but he was also protected by the police, whom he had decried as “racist” and a “major threat to the people.”

As he repeated the lines after Sanders, Mamdani took the oath of office on two Korans—one that belonged to his grandfather and the other to an African American author—that his wife, Rama Duwaji, clutched.

Following the ceremony, a block party including dancing and entertainment was planned on Broadway to carry on the festivities.

Despite the bitter cold (below 2 degrees Celsius), city authorities predicted that 40,000 people would show up.

Letitia James, the New York State Attorney General and President Donald Trump’s adversary, swore Mamdani into office earlier at midnight as hundreds of thousands of people celebrated the start of a new year in Times Square, five kilometers away.

at a private ceremony held under City Hall at an elaborate but deserted metro station.

In contrast to the joyous celebration in the center of the city, only his family, a small number of followers, and the media watched the ceremony at midnight to formally establish his rule over the city.

As the famous crystal-encrusted ball fell on a pole atop a skyscraper, commemorating the yearly calendar-turning tradition, throngs in Times Square, where the temperature plunged to almost minus 1 degree Celsius, chanted “New York, New York.”

Additionally, the ball-drop signaled the end of the term of Democrat Eric Adams, the city’s second African American mayor, who was harassed by his Justice Department and resented by former President Joe Biden for complaining about the cost of illegal immigration.

In order to choose the candidate, Mamdani, a Shia Muslim, shocked the party in both the primary and general elections.

He rode on a wave of dissatisfaction about living expenses and the established political system to beat former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo both times.

Just 51% of the votes went to him; the remainder were divided between Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa, a trailblazing Republican.

The fact that over half of the population regards him with suspicion is still evident despite his and his supporter media’s assertions that he won by a landslide.

Notably, he has made an effort to connect with the Jewish community, a large portion of whom see some of his remarks and associates as anti-Semitic. He has retracted some of his extreme remarks or attempted to dismiss them.

Although the Jewish police commissioner agreed to remain, the municipal fire commissioner resigned, citing Mamdani’s anti-Semitic views.

In an attempt to win over his extremist and Islamic supporters, he has also threatened to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, who is protected by the federal Secret Service. This seems absurd.

Mamdani has abandoned radical calls to seize control of “means of production.”

His campaign’s main focus was “affordability,” a catchphrase for the high cost of living in the city, which is a hub for media and finance and has significant economic inequality.

The majority of his campaign plans would need millions of dollars in funding and governmental approval.

Since 45% of the city’s $18.5 billion in income tax revenue currently comes from around 1% of high earners who may leave the city, his “tax the rich” proposals—repeated by Sanders—to fund his programs have encountered opposition.

In addition to ranting against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mamdani took part in a Khalistani protest where derogatory epithets were yelled in anti-Hindu religious shouts.

He hasn’t criticized it or distanced himself from it.