One might ask, then, why he looked perfectly comfortable this March speaking at an event celebrating the creation of Pakistan, a country that privileges Islam and has ethnically cleansed most of its Sikhs, Christians and Hindus.
The would-be mayor’s views on India are also strident. He has called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a “war criminal” for the 2002 Hindu-Muslim riots that took place on his watch as chief minister of Gujarat. In 2023 Mr. Mamdani signed a statement condemning Mr. Modi’s visit to New York.
On India, Mr. Mamdani has staked out partisan positions on everything from proposed agricultural reforms to the election of a communist mayor in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. Mr. Modi and his party aren’t above criticism, but Mr. Mamdani’s understanding of his ancestral homeland is cartoonishly lacking in nuance.
Hindutva detected