New York, August 17, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani did not attend the city’s main India Day Parade in Manhattan on Sunday, breaking a long-standing tradition of the city’s mayor joining thousands of people to celebrate India’s Independence Day.
Mamdani, however, attended a smaller neighbourhood celebration in Queens on Saturday. The Federation of Indian Associations, organiser of the 44th annual India Day Parade, had invited the Mayor, who has Indian and Ugandan heritage, but he did not attend the Manhattan event, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Mamdani’s predecessors, including Eric Adams, Bill de Blasio, Michael Bloomberg and Rudy Giuliani, had regularly attended the parade. The tradition dates back to the inaugural event in 1981 under then-Mayor Ed Koch.
Instead of the India Day Parade, Mamdani attended a family day celebration organised by an association of public housing residents in Brooklyn on Sunday.
The main political figure at the Manhattan parade was New York Governor Kathy Hochul, who said she was honoured to participate in celebrations organised by the city’s “vibrant community” of Indian Americans. Hochul had earlier proclaimed August 15 as India Independence Day in New York state.
Hochul, a Democrat seeking re-election as governor in November, was joined during the parade by Indian-American Republican attorney general candidate Sarita Komireddy, State Senator Jeremy Cooney and Congressman Shri Thanedar.
Mamdani had participated in the Saturday celebration in Floral Park. Posting on X, he described himself as “the first Indian American mayor of New York City”.
“Mayor David Dinkins once described our city as a gorgeous mosaic. Today, I saw that mosaic in the Hindus and Christians, Muslims and Jains, Buddhists and Sikhs across the Indian diaspora who have helped make our city what it is,” he said.
Mamdani is the son of filmmaker Mira Nair and Mahmood Mamdani, a Ugandan academic of Indian origin.
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