'If people had a problem, you could probably find him at one of the future events and could talk about specific issues.'
Durga Sreenivasan is a dedicated community organizer whose activism began at the young age of fourteen.
In the recent New York City mayoral race, she emerged as one of only 50 paid volunteers selected from a pool of 107,000 canvassers who worked to support Zohran Mamdani's campaign.
Her commitment and effectiveness on the ground earned her further distinction on election night, where she was recognized as one of the campaign's top ten volunteers.
Representing a new generation of civic-minded youth, Durga embodies the energy, discipline, and engagement that helped galvanize young voters throughout the race.
Speaking with Rediff US Contributor Abhijit J Masih, Durga reflected on her door-knocking efforts, the campaign and her hope for young voices to be included in Town Hall (the New York mayor's office).
Did you imagine, when you signed up to volunteer, that you'd end up being one of the top 10 out of 107,000 canvassers?
When I graduated from Duke I got hired to work for Zohran and that was because I cared about the policies and have been working in 17 different states for progressive policies.
When I put my resume in the bucket, I saw this campaign as just another campaign that I'd be doing.
For the primary, we got 50,000 people who were volunteering, and I was one of the few chosen to get paid.
It was fifty of us chosen to get paid out of 50,000. I did all the canvassing for the primary and I truly believe that that was the moment we won in New York.
It's historically impossible to win if you haven't won the democratic primary. I'm just proud of all the work we did.
What was the atmosphere like in those early days of the campaign? Was it scrappy, idealistic, chaotic -- or all of the above?
We definitely didn't think we were gonna win. So many people said to me when I had conversations at their doors - 'Hey, I'm sorry if you guys don't win and that he's gonna move the needle at least.'
So it was definitely scrappy. We had like 2 shirts, that they gave us as the paid organizers, to go to the most contentious parts of the city.
That was the hardest part, just going and not really knowing who you'll end up talking to at the door.
I ended up talking to people who ended up shouting at me and so it was chaotic in that way. We had to convince a lot of people to take us seriously.
Can you describe a door-to-door encounter that stayed with you?
I went to a home of an Orthodox Jewish family and knocked on their door and they immediately saw my literature and they were so excited they said "Oh we know him and, of course, you have our vote."
And, then the same block around six doors later, they looked at me through the window and shouted at me to go home.
"We don't want an Israel hater on our block."
So, there was a whole spectrum of views. A huge part of those 107,000 volunteers were Jewish and I think that goes to show that this campaign really goes beyond borders.
How would you describe Zohran as a leader within the campaign? What kind of direction or inspiration did he give his team?
In terms of him as a leader he made himself very accessible. Most of the 107,000 people have met Zohran at some point or the other.
He did provide that initial vision and clarity. He's been really kind and generous with his time.
What do you think it was about his leadership that made people from such different backgrounds come together for this cause?
A huge part of that was the accessibility. So, if people had a problem, you could probably find him at one of the future events and could talk about specific issues.
Also, he had a press conference on anti-Semitism and how we're going to tackle it in New York.
He was definitely very tuned in and listening to the people on the ground.
Every single time we reported that 'Hey, folks think that Zohran is anti-Semitic,' all of that led to a press conference to tackle it.
I think it was a team effort where we essentially conveyed what people have to say and try to tackle those issues head on.
Can you share a small moment from the watch party -- maybe a hug, a few words, a look -- that captured what that victory meant to you personally?
When the field director of the campaign told me that I was the top 10 out of 107,000 canvassers, I just gave him a long hug and almost started crying.
Coming to this wave of victory and getting to be one of the most impactful people - I was really shocked.
It reminded me that I've been doing this for a long time. I know how to do things, I know how to door knock and that was a really important moment.
Looking back, what was the most fulfilling moment of the entire campaign for you?
The first one of the entire campaign was back in June -- getting up at 6 am and door knocking the whole day. I door knocked until 9 pm when the polls closed and then went to one of the watch parties nearby just to relax finally and found someone.
This person started her political work with me nine years ago. We hadn't talked in four years because she went to China.
We met and turned out that we both were chosen as those 50 paid organizers from those 50,000 volunteers. We were just in shock and so joyful.
What are you most excited about Zohran Mamdani's term as mayor?
I'm excited to build coalitions because there's a lot of people who do not think that this can happen yet there's a lot of people who want to make the rent freeze real to have universal childcare and cheaper groceries.
So building a coalition with all these folks who may not have been a part of the campaign or who may have been against the campaign because they just didn't think it was real.
We have a mandate now and a real possibility of making this city and in turn inspiring the world to be a better place.
Let's do it together, let's work with Republicans, let's work with the billionaire class to actually make these goals happen.
What's next for you? What's the next campaign that you will be supporting or being a part of?
I'm really hopeful to do some more work in the administration. I was the environmental justice fellow of the mayor's office last year and I'd love to bring that know how in terms of navigating bureaucracy to this new City Hall.
I think we need more young people there because right now City Hall is looking very much older.
And if there's any Congressional campaigns that are exciting, I'd love to tap into those.
There's so much that we can do still and I'm really proud of all the skills that I've built over the past nine years that I can bring to the Democrats and progressives.
Photographs curated by Anant Salvi/Rediff
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff