‘Even Muslims don’t wear...’: Zohran Mamdani grilled on internet for wearing shoes inside Hindu temple

Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic candidate for New York City's mayoral election, visited Hindu temples ahead of the election (November 4). Mamdani said to the press outside one of the temples that he was "proud" of his Hindu heritage. Mamdani is the son of India-American filmmaker Mira Nair.

But amid the photos and videos of his visits to the temple were creating a buzz on social media, netizens noticed Mamdani wearing his shoes inside the temple. Highlighting the disrespect, people flooded the internet with criticism against the mayoral candidate.

“Hindus for Zohran. Deer for Leopard. US Politicians quip that only thing Indian Americans ask in exchange for their support is a selfie. They didn’t even ask him to remove his shoes inside the Temple," one of the X users wrote.

“Even Muslims do not even wear footwear in their masjid and he does it in a temple," a second user said.

“Why the f**k is he wearing shoes inside a temple (especially when everyone else is barefoot)? Who are these braindead “believers” who allowed him to do this?,” questioned a third one.

'Proud of my Hindu heritage’

During his visit, Mamdani said he was proud of being the first Indian-American mayor of NYC (Elections are scheduled for November 4 this year) and vowed that he would oppose federal immigration enforcement and improve multilingual communication throughout the city.

Mamdani won the Democratic mayoral primary in June. During his temple visit, he talked about his ties with the Hindu community, saying that his mother is a Hindu and he was raised with a deep appreciation for the faith. Mamdani's father is Ugandan academic Mahmood Mamdani, who is a Muslim.

"I'm proud of my Hindu heritage, I'm proud to be someone who would be the first Muslim mayor of this city, and I'm proud to hold all of those things together," Mamdani was quoted as saying by NepYork, a New York-based news portal.

"I am proud that I would be the first Indian-American mayor of this city. I am proud of the fact that my mother's family is Hindu. And I grew up with a keen understanding, whilst myself being a Muslim, what Hinduism means. The stories that I learned, the tradition, the faith, the practices," Mamdani further told the reporters present there.