A photograph of Mamdani’s note was shared on social media platform X on Thursday by Khalid’s friend, Banojyotsna Lahiri
NEW DELHI — “Dear Umar, I think of your words on bitterness often, and the importance of not letting it consume one’s self. It was a pleasure to meet your parents. We are all thinking of you,” wrote New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani to imprisoned student activist Umar Khalid.
Mamdani’s handwritten letter to the jailed activist and former JNU student Umar Khalid, expressed solidarity and recalled the latter’s reflections on resisting bitterness during prolonged incarceration.
Umar Khalid is an accused in the North East Delhi riots larger conspiracy case and has been incarcerated for over five years without trial.
A photograph of Mamdani’s note was shared on social media platform X on Thursday by Khalid’s friend, Banojyotsna Lahiri, the same day Mamdani was ceremonially sworn in as mayor.
The note was handed over to Khalid’s parents when Mamdani met them during their visit to the United States in December 2025, according to multiple media reports.
Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist, became mayor of New York City just after midnight on Thursday, marking his name as the first Muslim, Indian-origin mayor of America’s biggest city.
In 2023, two years before his New York City mayoral election victory, Mamdani had read Khalid’s notes at a ‘Howdy, Democracy?!’ event in New York. The address was delivered ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to New York in 2023, at a time when Mamdani was a member of the New York State Assembly.
“I’m going to be reading a letter from Umar Khalid, who is a scholar and a former student activist at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi…who organised a campaign against lynching and hate. He has been in jail for more than 1,000 days under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and has yet to face trial, though his bail application has been repeatedly denied. He has also faced an assassination attempt,” Mamdani told the crowd.
