OAN Staff Blake Wolf and Brooke Mallory
12:59 PM – Wednesday, October 29, 2025
In a recently unearthed 2013 interview with Indian filmmaker Mira Nair, the mother of Democratic socialist NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, she discussed raising him while emphasizing their family’s deliberate efforts to preserve his Indian and Ugandan heritage despite reaping the benefits of living in the U.S.
Her interview with The Hindustan Times has since gained renewed attention amid Mamdani’s rising political profile as a candidate for New York City mayor, and Nair’s remarks appear to convey his purposeful cultural disconnection from American identity, fueling further debates about his loyalties and worldview.
“He is a total desi. Completely. We are not firangs at all. He is very much us. He is not an Uh-merican (American) at all. He was born in Uganda, raised between India and America. He is at home in many places. He thinks of himself as a Ugandan and as an Indian,” Nair told the outlet in 2013, according to The Hindustan Times.
“Firang” is a term of South Asian and Southeast Asian origin that refers to a foreigner of Western, especially European, origin. Its history traces back to the Arabic word “faranji,” meaning “Frank,” which referred to Crusaders and later Europeans, particularly White Christians, and was generalized in South Asia to mean Westerners. It is often used to highlight perceived foreign “clumsiness, cultural ignorance, or arrogance.”
Mamdani was born on October 18, 1991, in Kampala, Uganda. He moved with his family to the United States at age seven, after spending some time in Cape Town, South Africa. As a child, grew up in Manhattan, New York City, attending the Bank Street School and later the Bronx High School of Science. Mamdani later went on to study Africana Studies at Bowdoin College in Maine, graduating in 2014, and he has described his upbringing as being extremely privileged.
After the 2013 interview went viral this week, India-born conservative political commentator and strategist Mehek Cooke responded soon after, further explaining the derogatory meaning behind the term “firang.”
“It’s the word used back in India to mock outsiders, to say you don’t belong,” Cooke told Fox News. “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.”
“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,” he continued.
“This isn’t just about identity, it’s about values. Rejecting the label of ‘American’ while living under the flag, enjoying the freedoms, and cashing in on the opportunities is a rejection of American values themselves: gratitude, unity, and pride in country.”
“And if you raise your child to believe he was ‘never a firang,’ never an American, what message are you sending? That he owes nothing to this nation? That he can take the benefits without any sense of belonging or loyalty? That mindset breeds resentment. And that’s exactly what we’re seeing play out in politics today,” Cooke added.
Mamdani’s mother is an Oscar-nominated filmmaker known for making movies that explore cultural identity, social issues, and the “immigrant experience,” often focusing on marginalized communities. Mamdani’s father, Mahmood Mamdani, is a professor of international affairs and anthropology at Columbia University.
The Democratic socialist mayoral candidate also previously faced backlash for the juxtaposition of being a privileged politician after explaining that he would be able to press on with his advocacy if he ever ran out of money because he knew his parents would financially support him.
“I worked until January, and then I took time away from my job, and one of the major reasons I could do that was because I knew that if I ran out of my savings, my family would be able to support me,” Mamdani previously stated.
“A true silver spoon socialist right here,” one social media user responded to the clip.
“It’s easy to be a socialist when you’re rich,” another wrote.
“Socialism is the ideology of the pampered upper middle class,” a third user added.
In August, Independent NYC mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo accused Mamdani of “stealing affordable housing from the poor” via social media posts on X, which garnered millions of views and sparked widespread debate. This led to an ethics complaint filed by a watchdog group in mid-August, questioning whether Mamdani, as a politically connected figure, improperly secured the unit.
“It is outrageous that … a man who presents himself as a champion of the poor would occupy an apartment intended for public housing while thousands of New Yorkers sleep in shelters or on the streets. I was born in Brownsville and understand firsthand what it means to fight for a roof over your head,” stated Mayor Eric Adams in regards to Mamdani’s rent-stabilized apartment.
“Somewhere last night in New York City, a single mother and her children slept at a homeless shelter because you, Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, are occupying her rent-controlled apartment,” Independent Mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo added.
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