Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is facing backlash after visiting the family of fallen NYPD officer Didarul Islam, as critics pointed to his past 2020 tweet supporting “defund the police” stance.The controversy erupted after Mamdani, who recently returned from a trip to Uganda, visited the grieving family of officer Islam, one of four victims killed in a mass shooting in Midtown Manhattan. The shooter, Shane Tamura, opened fire on Monday, killing Islam and three others before shooting himself.Sharing a post on X, Mamdani wrote: “Two days ago, an act of senseless violence took the lives of Officer Didarul Islam, Wesley LePatner, Aland Etienne, and Julia Hyman. Today, I visited Officer Islam’s family and learned of his legacy. I ask you to join me in honoring the memory of these four New Yorkers.”However, the post quickly drew criticism, with users referencing Mamdani’s previous tweets during the height of the “Defund the Police” movement in 2020.Many accused him of changing his stance for political gain. One user wrote, “You can’t go from defund the police to never mind I love the police. You’re asking New Yorkers to forgo their guns meanwhile you just had a wedding in Uganda with armed guards.”While another posted, “Zohran Mamdani exposed as a total fraud. Mocking cops, calling them racist, then acting like he cares? No loyalty to America. He belongs in Uganda, not leading NYC. Deport him and protect our city!”Earlier at a press conference following his visit to the officer’s home in The Bronx, Mamdani addressed the criticism and attempted to clarify his position saying: “I am not defunding the police; I am not running to defund the police.”“Over the course of this race, I’ve been very clear about my view of public safety and the critical role that the police have in creating that public safety,” he added.Standing alongside members of the Bangladeshi American Police Association—of which Officer Islam was a member—and labor union 32BJ, which represented another victim, Aland Etienne, Mamdani tried to strike a unifying tone.During the peak of the “Defund the Police” movement in 2020, Zohran Mamdani repeatedly called for major cuts to the NYPD budget. In one post, he wrote, “We don’t need an investigation to know that the NYPD is racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety. What we need is to #DefundTheNYPD.”In another, he said, “There is no negotiating with an institution this wicked & corrupt. Defund it. Dismantle it. End the cycle of violence,” referencing budget talks around proposed NYPD cuts.Now, Mamdani has distanced himself from those remarks. When asked about them, he responded, “My statements in 2020 were made amidst a frustration that many New Yorkers held at the murder of George Floyd.”Mamdani claimed that his current stance is more nuanced, stating that his previous posts were “clearly out of step” with his recent campaign platform. He now supports maintaining the NYPD headcount while reducing its overtime budget.Despite this clarification, skepticism remains. Many police officers and political observers have accused Mamdani of shifting positions purely for political gain in a city where public safety remains a top concern for voters, New York Post reported.Adding to the political firestorm, former Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Eric Adams, who are both trailing Mamdani in early polling for the 2025 mayoral race, weighed in shortly after the shooting. Mamdani fired back, accusing Cuomo of politicising the tragedy saying, “It is beyond me that politicians are looking to use these days to score such cynical political points, on the very day that I held the father of Officer Islam in my arms and he could not utter a single word.”“For the former governor to spend an entire day speaking almost exclusively about me and barely about the New Yorkers who have been killed is indicative of the very politics New Yorkers want to leave in the past,” he added.All three, Mamdani, Cuomo, and Adams are expected to attend officer Islam’s funeral on Thursday.
