TOI Bharat Abroad: New year, new mayor
As 2026 begins, the Indian diaspora is already setting the tone abroad. In New York, Zohran Mamdani rang in the year by taking oath as mayor, marking a historic first for an Indian-African-Muslim immigrant in America’s largest city. In Washington, Indian-Americans continued to punch far above their weight, shaping the ideological battles of Donald Trump’s second term from both sides of the aisle. And in sub-zero Canada, a Sikh taxi driver turned a routine night shift into a moment of quiet heroism, helping deliver a baby in the back seat of his cab at –23°C.
From power and politics to humanity in the everyday, the global Indian story enters the New Year with impact, contradiction and heart.
Let’s go.
THE BIG STORY
Zohran Mamdani makes history in New York
The 34-year-old was sworn in as New York City’s mayor on the Quran, becoming the city’s youngest mayor and its first Indian-African-Muslim immigrant to hold the office.
Why it matters
For Indians abroad, Mamdani’s rise signals a profound shift in how political power is accessed and displayed in the West. In a city long shaped by migration and trauma, his inauguration reframes representation not as symbolism alone but as a test of whether progressive, immigrant-led politics can deliver on housing, transit and inequality.
Driving the news
At midnight on January 1, 2026, Zohran Mamdani took a private oath on the Quran in a decommissioned Old City Hall subway station, administered by New York Attorney General Letitia James. Hours later, he was publicly sworn in on the steps of City Hall by Senator Bernie Sanders, with Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in attendance. Mamdani, born in Kampala and raised in New York, defeated former governor Andrew Cuomo in both the Democratic primary and the general election after entering the race as a long-shot outsider.
The ceremonies, heavy with historical and religious symbolism, underscored a political break from centrist governance toward a more openly progressive agenda centred on affordability and public services.
NRI WATCH
Desi power surge reshapes US politics
Indian-Americans emerged as one of the most consequential diaspora blocs in Washington during Donald Trump’s second term, cutting across party lines and ideological camps. From Capitol Hill to the White House ecosystem, figures of Indian origin were central to debates on immigration, executive power, identity and America’s political direction.
Democratic lawmakers such as Ro Khanna, Pramila Jayapal and Raja Krishnamoorthi shaped fights over civil liberties, H-1B visas and transparency, while Republicans like Vivek Ramaswamy and Kash Patel became lightning rods inside MAGA over race, nationalism and institutional power. Even figures without formal office, such as venture capitalist Asha Jadeja Motwani, wielded influence through access and proximity.
The result was not a single “Indian-American position” but a fragmented, highly visible assertion of political agency, showing how diaspora voices now shape, disrupt and sometimes divide the American mainstream rather than orbiting it quietly.
OFFBEAT
Taxi ride turns into delivery room in subzero Canada
A routine hospital drop-off became an unforgettable moment for Hardeep Singh Toor, a Sikh taxi driver in Calgary, who helped deliver a baby girl in the back seat of his cab as temperatures plunged to –23°C.
Called for an emergency ride during a winter storm, Toor was driving a heavily pregnant woman and her partner to the Peter Lougheed Centre when labour progressed rapidly just blocks from the hospital. With icy roads, limited time and no medical training, he kept his composure until the baby was born moments before reaching the emergency entrance. Hospital staff then rushed in to take over, confirming that both mother and child were healthy.
Toor later described the incident as the “best memory” of his life, a quiet reminder of how everyday acts of calm and kindness can turn strangers into lifelong stories.
In the News
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NRI SPOTLIGHT
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Disclaimer
Views expressed above are the author’s own.
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