'A moment comes...': Zohran Mamdani quotes Nehru in victory speech, says mayoral election toppled ‘political dynasty’

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani on Wednesday quoted the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, in his victory speech, saying, “Standing before you, I think of the words of Jawaharlal Nehru - a moment comes, but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends and when the soul of a nation long suppressed finds utterance."

"Tonight, we have stepped out from the old into the new,” said New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.

He declared that his victory toppled a “political dynasty”, as he quoted the words of former Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru that with his win.

Mamdani scripted history as he emerged victorious in the closely-watched New York City mayoral election, defeating political heavyweight former New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa.

“Friends, we have toppled a political dynasty. I wish Andrew Cuomo only the best in private life, but let tonight be the final time I utter his name as we turn the page on a politics that abandons the many and answers only to the few. New York tonight you have delivered,” Mamdani said in his victory speech Tuesday night as the polls declared him victorious in the 2025 elections to a rousing reception from his supporters.

“We won because New Yorkers allowed themselves to hope that the impossible could be made possible, and we won because we insisted that no longer would politics be something that is done to us. Now, it is something that we do,” he said.

"We will fight for you; because we are you," Mamdani also said. "Today we have spoken in a clear voice, hope is alive."