>> Continued From the Previous Page <<
“A Rejection of America”
“It’s the word used back in India to mock outsiders, to say you don’t belong,” explained Mehek Cooke, an Indian-born attorney and GOP strategist, to Fox News Digital. “Using it here about your own child raised in the United States carries the same tone as calling someone a derogatory word — or worse. It’s flippant, divisive, and dripping with contempt for the very country that gave your family a better life.”
Cooke didn’t stop there. She added, “When Mamdani’s mother says her son was ‘never a firang and only desi,’ it’s a rejection of America. It’s ungrateful, disrespectful, and frankly repulsive to live in this country since age seven, receive every freedom, education, and opportunity America offers, and still deny being American.”
Who Is Zohran Mamdani?
Mamdani, now 33, was born in Uganda and spent his childhood between Africa, India, and the United States. He was only naturalized as an American citizen in 2018 — an unusually late date for someone now campaigning to lead America’s largest city.
His mother, best known for the film Monsoon Wedding, openly admitted her family never fully embraced American culture. “We only speak Hindustani at home,” she said in the same interview, describing her son as a “very chaalu fellow,” a phrase that roughly translates to “clever” or “street-smart.”
But critics say this isn’t just about language — it’s about loyalty. For a man seeking to lead millions of New Yorkers, they argue, the issue goes far deeper than heritage.
The Identity Crisis Question
For many voters, the revelation reopens a broader conversation about national identity, assimilation, and gratitude. Can someone who spent his life calling himself “not an American at all” suddenly claim to represent the values of everyday New Yorkers?
And if his own mother still views him as “a Ugandan and an Indian,” what does that mean for a candidate running to lead the cultural and economic heart of America?
Even Democrats have quietly admitted the comments are politically toxic. Behind closed doors, party operatives are reportedly scrambling to contain the fallout, fearing it could reinforce what many moderates already suspect — that the far-left’s obsession with identity politics has turned into open disdain for the country itself.
As the controversy grows, one thing is clear: for Zohran Mamdani, this isn’t just a campaign headache — it’s a question of belonging. And in the eyes of many voters, the answer may already be written in his mother’s words.
“He is not an American at all.”
