'Honour, privilege of a lifetime': Zohran Mamdani sworn in as NYC's first Muslim, south Asian mayor on Quran

Zohran Mamdani took the oath as the 112th Mayor of New York City at midnight on Thursday. Mamdani, a Democrat, was sworn in as the first Muslim mayor of NYC, placing his hand on a Quran as he took the oath. 

New York Attorney General Letitia James administered the oath at the old City Hall station, one of the metropolis's original subway stops known for its arched ceilings. "This is truly the honour and the privilege of a lifetime," he was quoted as saying by The Associated Press. 

Besides being the first Muslim mayor of New York, Zohran is also its first of South Asian descent and the first to be born in Africa. At 34 years of age, he is also the city's youngest mayor in decades. 

He will be sworn in again at a public ceremony at City Hall at 1 pm by US Senator Bernie Sanders, followed by a public block party on a Broadway stretch known as the Canyon of Heroes. This Broadway stretch is famous for its ticker-tape parades. 

After the oath-taking, Mamdani and his wife Rama Duwaji will leave their one-bedroom, rent-stabilised apartment to take up residence in the mayoral residence in Manhattan. 

About Zohran Mamdani, his mayoral campaign

He was born in Uganda to filmmaker Mira Nair and Mahmood Mamdani, an academic and author. When he was 7, his family moved to New York City, and he grew up in a post-9/11 city where Muslims did not always feel welcome and included. 

He became an American citizen in 2018 and worked on political campaigns for Democrats in New York before seeking public office himself. He won a state Assembly seat in 2020 to represent a section of Queens. 

His mayoral campaign was centred on an "affordability agenda" and defined by three "Day One" priorities.

The "Day One" priorities include universal free childcare (providing free childcare from 6 weeks to 5 years old, estimated to cost approximately $6 billion per annum), fare-free city buses (eliminating fares on all NYC buses to increase ridership and speed up service), and rent freeze (appointing members to the Rent Guidelines Board who support a 0 per cent increase). 

He also promised to raise the city's minimum wage to $30 per hour by 2030 and to construct 200,000 units of permanently affordable, union-built, rent-stabilised homes over 10 years.

Besides this, he vowed to "Trump-Proof" New York City by defending the city's sanctuary policies and federal funding against potential cuts or federal intervention from the Trump administration. 

Furthermore, Mamdani promised to establish NYC as an LGBTQ+ sanctuary city and create an office of LGBTQIA+ affairs. He also promised legal representation for all immigrants in detention proceedings and strengthening sanctuary city laws. 

He proposed to pay for these initiatives by a 2 per cent city income tax on residents earning more than $1 million annually, increasing the corporate tax rate from 7.25 per cent to 11.5 per cent, and ending property tax exemptions for private institutions like Columbia and NYU to fund CUNY.