In a rare moment of cross-continental comedy, stand-up philosopher and full-time X revolutionary Kunal Kamra declared that New York politician Zohran Mamdani “makes India more proud than Adani and Ambani.”
A touching statement, except for one minor detail: Zohran Mamdani was born in Uganda, spent his early childhood in South Africa, and has lived in the U.S. for the last three decades. But who cares about geography when your GPS is permanently tuned to “performative nationalism”?
Of course, it turns out Mamdani’s father is Mahmood Mamdani, a Ugandan academic of Gujarati Muslim origin – one of the many Indians who migrated to East Africa during the British colonial period. Which means by Kamra’s nationalist logic, Zohran isn’t just Indian; he’s 200% Indian. Gujarat to Kampala to Queens; he’s double-strength Indian, with ancestral roots, overseas experience, and a progressive resume.
If ancestry is all it takes, Kamra might soon extend “Indian pride” to every Uber driver with a subcontinental playlist. Next week, expect him to post: “Greta Thunberg’s Uber driver with <insert any Indian-ish surname> now makes India prouder than ISRO.”
And truly, why stop there? With such elastic patriotism, we can claim everyone – from Elon Musk (born in Africa, like Mamdani!) to Kamala Harris (half Tamil, full America). India’s pride exports are doing better than IT services.
In the end, Kamra’s joke works perfectly because it’s about as Indian as Zohran Mamdani himself: globally misplaced, emotionally dramatic, and factually flexible.
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