When New York elected Zohran Mamdani as its youngest mayor in a century, the reactions here were quite curious. We recognised the language of hope in the form of rent freezes, free buses and universal healthcare. But we also know that such promises would sound absurd coming from an Indian mayor. New York’s mayor can govern because the city has money, law, and autonomy. Cities in India, by contrast, have rarely been at the centre of transformative politics.