No Nidhi Razdan, Indians are not obsessed with the ‘Muslim identity’ of Zohran Mamdani, but rather angry at his anti-Hindu and anti-India rhetoric
Former NDTV ‘news anchor’ Nidhi Razdan, who was once tricked by scamsters into believing that she was being appointed Professor at Harvard University, has claimed that NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is being criticised in India for virtue of his ‘Muslim Faith.’
Razdan has written a piece to this effect for Gulf News titled ‘The Mamdani moment: Why New York’s new political star is sparking debates in India’, which was published on Monday (7th July).
She claimed that Zohran Mamdani became a ‘prime target’ of the Indian right wing ecosystem only because he is a Muslim.
Nidhi Razdan lamented that the Indian right wing celebrated the likes of Rishi Sunak, an Indian origin British politician who went on to become the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, but not Zohran Mamdani. She suggested that it was because Sunak ‘wore his Hinduism on his sleeve’ while Mamdani is a Muslim.
“The same right wing also celebrates the Vivek Ramaswamys and Nikki Haleys of the world, even though their politics is rooted against immigrants. But Zohran Mamdani really irks them. It was amusing to see pro-BJP social media handles that have expressed joy about a Sunak or a Ramaswamy sneer at those who are happy with Mamdani’s victory. And there is only one main reason for that – his faith,” she brazened out.
The former NDTV ‘news anchor’ even hit out at Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi for highlighting that the NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani was repeating Pakistani talking points on India.
“”Even Senior Congress leader and MP Abhishek Singhvi made a rather undignified dig at Mamdani for doing “Pakistani PR”. “If he’s a Muslim, of course he is pro-Pakistan” is how the Indian right wing generally thinks. To see a Congress leader speak similarly is even sadder,” Nidhi Razdan lamented in her piece in Gulf News.
She will, of course, have to look past Zohran Mamdani’s association with US-based Pakistani lobbying groups to peddle the universal and rather perpetual trump card of ‘Muslim victimhood.’
The former NDTV ‘news anchor’, nonetheless, continued her misleading narrative that the debate in India surrounding the NYC mayoral candidate was about religion and not his ‘ideas.’
“Like almost everything else in our political discourse today, Zohran Mamdani has polarised opinions both in America and India. But the reasons are different. In New York during his campaign, it was his ideas that were being debated. In India it is his religion,” she continued her dubious rhetoric.
Debunking the lies of Nidhi Razdan
The reality is far from the misleading claims made by Nidhi Razdan in her article in Gulf News. Indians or ‘Indian right wing’, as the former ‘new anchor’ puts it, are not fixated at all on the religion of Zohran Mamdani.
As a matter of fact, Zohran Mamdani is under fire for his blatant display of Hinduphobia. In August 2020, the famed son of ‘filmmaker’ Mira Nair was found leading a hate mob, demonising Hindus as ‘Harami (bastards),’ at Times Square.
“Who are the Hindus? Harami (Bastards),” the mob was heard yelling. Mamdani remained unflinched despite the dehumanisation of the Hindu community by his supporters. He instead began spewing vitriol against Ram Mandir.
“I am here today to protest against the BJP government in India and the demolition of the Babri Masjid that attempted to build a temple on the ruins of it,” claimed Zohran Mamdani.
He made it clear that the hate mob that he was leading at Times Square in August 2020 belonged to Khalistani extremists. The video coincided with the Bhoomi Pujan ceremony of the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya, which was performed by none other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Around the same time, Zohran Mamdani peddled vicious disinformation on X (formerly Twitter) about the re-constrcution of Ram Mandir. For context, a Ram Mandir always existed at the very site in Ayodhya since time immemorial.
Screengrab of the August 2020 tweet of Zohran Mamdani
Mughal tyrant Aurangzeb destroyed part of the temple and built a disputed structure on top of the temple foundation. The historical wrongdoing was corrected on 6th December 1992 by karsevaks.
Through years of litigation, the Hindu site finally got the green light to begin the reconstruction of the temple at the same site where it existed before.
Besides his anti-Hindu rhetoric, Zohran Mamdani had peddled vicious lies about India. The NYC mayoral candidate has defamed India by falsely claiming that Muslims have been eradicated from Gujarat.
He is being funded by the anti-India, anti-Hindu lobby of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. This explains why he falsely dubbed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a ‘war criminal.’
Faith is a personal choice. The religious affiliation of Zohran Mamdani is immaterial to Indians or the ‘Indian right wing.’ The harsh criticism he faces in India is due to his anti-Hindu rhetoric and lies that he peddled about the country in the US.
Other Indian-origin politicians such as Rishi Sunak (Hindu), Vivek Ramaswamy (Hindu) or Nikki Haley (Sikh turned Christian) did not spew vitirol against Hindus or their religious places of worship.
They also did not make false claims about ‘Muslims being eradicated from Gujarat’ for political vendetta.This is precisely why Sunak, Ramaswamy or Haley are acceptable and a Mamdani is not.
Only Americans fixated on Faith of Zohran Mamdani
The sweeping assertions of Nidhi Razdan that only the ‘ideas’ of Zohran Mamdani are being debated in the US, the claim are false.
The Republican, Make America Great Again (MAGA) supporters are, in fact, obsessed with his ‘Muslim identity.’
The possibility of a Muslim ‘mayor’ in a predominantly white Christian NYC is still an unfathomable concept to many Americans, which is why they are fixated on his Faith.
According to The New York Times, anti-Muslim rhetoric dominated political discourse after Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic primaries.
It is Indians who are challenging the divisive ideas of Zohran Mamdani and debunking his lies on social media without being obsessed about his religion.
Indian media and intellectuals eulogised Zohran Mamdani
The Indian media has been writing eulogies for Zohran Mamdani since 2020 when he became a member of the New York State Assembly.
At that time, Zohran Mamdani was glorified for being the son of ‘filmmaker’ Mira Nair and winning election to the New York State Assembly. Indian media publications like The New Indian Express, News18, Times Now and India Today went all out to tell its readers about his biography.
Screengrab of the news reports
The Times of India also did not lose the opportunity to act as Mamdani’s PR machinery. Scroll and Moneycontrol, in particular, became fixated with his gimmicky election slogan of ‘Roti and Roses.’ Leftist propaganda outlet NDTV even conducted an online interview with Zohran Mamdani.
Screengrab of the news reports
The media ecosystem doubled down on heaping praises on Zohran Mamdani after he emerged as a strong candidate in NYC mayoral race.
India Today had suggested that Mamdani was ‘shaping NYC mayoral election’ while the Times of India published a speculative report about the earnings of the 33-year-old politician. DNA news was fixated on highlighting his ‘India connection.’
Screengrab of the news reports by The Times of India and India Today
Screengrab of the news reports by DNA India
Leftists and their obsession to make everything about ‘India’
Like a true representative of the left-liberal ecosystem, which has a habit of singling out India, Nidhi Razdan also used the Zohran Mamdani controversy to paint the country in a poor light.
India has nothing to do with Zohran Mamdani. If he kept his anti-India and anti-Hindu rhetoric to himself, none would bother challenging his outrageous claims on social media. Mamdani drew the ire only when he chose to showcase his ignorance to the world.
Indians or Indian right wing (as Nidhi Razdan puts it) cannot care less whether a Muslim man became the mayor of New York City. He is irrelevant to Indian politics.
But the former NDTV ‘news anchor’ could not resist putting Indians under the bus to write a piece on Zohran Mamdani in a foreign publication such as Gulf News.
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