New York City’s new mayor, Zohran Mamdani, has drawn praise from Pashtuns around the world after prominently honoring the Pashto language in his inauguration address, a gesture widely seen as a powerful nod to cultural inclusion.
During his swearing-in speech, Mamdani highlighted the city’s rich linguistic and cultural diversity by naming several languages spoken across its boroughs. He mentioned Pashto first, before languages such as Mandarin and Yiddish.
Pashto, spoken by more than 50 million people, is one of the major languages of Afghanistan and Pakistan. For Pashtuns, it is more than a means of communication; it is closely tied to cultural identity and resilience, particularly in the context of a long history of political upheaval, conflict, and marginalization in the region.
Zohran Mamdani became the first New York City mayor to take the oath of office on the Holy Quran. In a private swearing‑in ceremony held at a disused subway station beneath Times Square, he used two Qurans: one that belonged to his grandfather and another approximately 200‑year‑old copy on loan from the New York Public Library.
At the public inauguration at City Hall, he planned once again to use Qurans that had belonged to his grandfather and grandmother, tying the ceremony directly to his own family history.
