Mayor Zohran Mamdani celebrates Durga Puja in New York

New York Diary

New York City is a place of many faiths and the fervor and beauty of Durga Puja spills out from hearts and homes to temples and streets, and now New York’s mayor, Zohran Kwame Mamdani, has also joined in to make it truly a New York festival where everyone knows the joy of celebrating Ma Durga. Here delightful photos from his participation in a Durga puja ceremony at Om Shakti Temple in Queens on Tuesday, October 20, 2026. You see members of the Bengali community dressed in their festive best to welcome Ma Durga – and in only a New York moment, Mayor Mamdani. There is delight and happiness. The last picture of the Bengali woman dressed up in gold and silk with jasmine in hair, holding a sleeping child in her arms and a knapsack on her back. Only in America!