Washington DC [US], Jan 2: New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani has sent a handwritten note to jailed activist Umar Khalid and handed it over to his parents during an interaction in the United States in December 2025.

In the message addressed to Khalid, Mamdani wrote: “Dear Umar, I think of your words on bitterness often, and the importance of not letting it consume one’s self. It was a pleasure to meet your parents. We are all thinking of you.”

A photograph of the note was shared on X on Thursday by Khalid’s partner, Bunojyotsana Lahiri, the day Mamdani was sworn in as mayor.

Lahiri said Khalid’s parents Sahiba Khanam and Syed Qasim Rasool Ilyas were in the US to visit their daughter ahead of a family wedding. “They met Mamdani and a few others in the US and spent quite some time with him. That’s when he wrote this note,” she said, as per The Indian Express.

Khalid has been in jail since 2020 under sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. He was granted interim bail in December to attend his sister’s wedding.

Lahiri said he stayed at home during the bail period because of the court conditions and spent time with family members before returning to jail.

In 2023, at an event in New York, Mamdani had earlier read out parts of a letter written by Khalid in which he reflected on not becoming “bitter” about his situation.

Meanwhile, eight U.S. lawmakers have written a letter urging the Indian Government to grant Khalid a fair trial as per international law.

Ranking Member of the House Rules Committee and Co-chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, Democrat Jim McGovern, who represents the 2nd District of Massachusetts, and seven other lawmakers penned the letter addressed to India’s Ambassador to the US-Vinay Kwatra.

As per the letter, McGovern and others had met Umar Khalid’s parents earlier in December.

In a post on X, McGovern said, earlier this month, I met with the parents of Umar Khalid, who has been jailed in India for over 5 years without trial. Representative Raskin and I are leading our colleagues to urge that he be granted bail and a fair, timely trial in accordance with international law.”

In the letter, the US lawmakers say, “Umar Khalid has been detained without bail for 5 years under UAPA, which independent human rights experts have warned may contravene international standards of equality before the law, due process and proportionality…India must uphold the rights of individuals to receive a trial with reasonable time or to be release and be presume innocent until proven guilty…We request that your government share steps taken to ensure that judicial proceedings against Khali and co-accused who remain in detention comport with international standard.”

Others who signed the letter are, Congressman Jamie Raskin, Senator Chris Van Hollen, Senator Peter Welch, Congresswoman Pramila Jaypal, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, Congressman Jan Schakowsky and Congressman Llyod Doggett. (With inputs from agencies)

New York, Jan 02: Zohran Mamdani became mayor of New York City on Thursday, taking over one of the most unrelenting jobs in American politics with a promise to transform government on behalf of the city’s striving, struggling working class.

Mamdani, a Democrat, was sworn in at a decommissioned subway station below City Hall just after midnight, placing his hand on a Quran as he took his oath as the city’s first Muslim mayor.

After working part of the night in his new office, Mamdani then returned to City Hall in a taxi cab around midday Thursday for a grander public inauguration where U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, one of the mayor’s political heroes, administered the oath for a second time.

“Beginning today, we will govern expansively and audaciously. We may not always succeed, but never will we be accused of lacking the courage to try,” Mamdani told a cheering crowd.

“To those who insist that the era of big government is over, hear me when I say this: No longer will City Hall hesitate to use its power to improve New Yorkers’ lives,” he said.

Throngs turned out in the frigid cold for an inauguration viewing party just south of City Hall on a stretch of Broadway known as the “Canyon of Heroes,” famous for its ticker-tape parades.

Taxing the rich

Throughout the ceremony, speakers hit on the theme that carried Mamdani to victory in the election: Devotion to using government power to lift up the millions of people who struggle with the city’s high cost of living.

Sanders insisted that doing so — partly by raising taxes on the rich — wouldn’t be radical.

“In the richest country in the history of the world, making sure that people can live in affordable housing is not radical,” he told the crowd. “It is the right and decent thing to do.”

In opening remarks, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Mamdani would be a mayor dedicated to the working class.

“It is the people of New York who have chosen historic, ambitious leadership in response to untenable and unprecedented times. New York, we have chosen courage over fear. We have chosen prosperity for the many over spoils for the few,” she said.

Mamdani was accompanied on the stage by his wife, Rama Duwaji. The previous mayor, Eric Adams, was in attendance, sitting near another former mayor, Bill de Blasio.

Actor Mandy Patinkin, who recently hosted Mamdani to celebrate Hannukah, sang “Over the Rainbow” with children from an elementary school chorus. The invocation was given by Imam Khalid Latif, the director of the Islamic Center of New York City. Poet Cornelius Eady read an original poem called “Proof.”

In addition to being the city’s first Muslim mayor, Mamdani is also its first of South Asian descent and the first to be born in Africa. At 34, Mamdani is also the city’s youngest mayor in generations.

Free childcare and bus rides

In a campaign that helped make “affordability” a buzzword across the political spectrum, the democratic socialist promised to bring transformative change with policies intended to lower the cost of living in one of the world’s most expensive cities. His platform included free child care, free buses, a rent freeze for about 1 million households, and a pilot of city-run grocery stores.

But he will also have to face other responsibilities: handling trash and snow and rats, while getting blamed for subway delays and potholes.

Mamdani was born in Kampala, Uganda, the son of filmmaker Mira Nair and Mahmood Mamdani, an academic and author. His family moved to New York City when he was 7, with Mamdani growing up in a post-9/11 city where Muslims didn’t always feel welcome. He became an American citizen in 2018.

He worked on political campaigns for Democratic candidates in the city before he sought public office himself, winning a state Assembly seat in 2020 to represent a section of Queens.

Mamdani and his wife, Rama Duwaji, are departing their one-bedroom, rent stabilized apartment in the outer-borough to take up residence in the stately mayoral residence in Manhattan.

Mamdani inherits a city on the upswing, after years of slow recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Violent crime has dropped to pre-pandemic lows. Tourists are back. Unemployment, which soared during the pandemic years, is also back to pre-COVID levels.

Yet deep concerns remain about high prices and rising rents in the city.

He’ll also have to deal with Republican President Donald Trump.

During the mayoral race, Trump threatened to withhold federal funding from the city if Mamdani won and mused about sending National Guard troops to the city.

But Trump surprised supporters and foes alike by inviting the Democrat to the White House for what ended up being a cordial meeting in November.

“I want him to do a great job and will help him do a great job,” Trump said.

The progressives take on Trump

Still, tensions between the two leaders are almost certain to resurface, given their deep policy disagreements, particularly over immigration.

Several speakers at Thursday’s inauguration criticized the Trump administration’s move to deport more immigrants and expressed hope that Mamdani’s City Hall would be an ally to those the president has targeted.

Mamdani also faces skepticism and opposition from some members of the city’s Jewish community over his criticisms of Israel’s government.

The new mayor and his team have spent the weeks since his election victory preparing for the transition, surrounding Mamdani with seasoned hands who have worked inside or alongside city government.

That included persuading the city’s police commissioner, Jessica Tisch, to remain in her position — a move that helped calm fears in the business community that the administration might be planning radical changes in policing strategy. AP HIG