Arya Rajendran became India’s youngest mayor at 21, sparking global attention after Zohran Mamdani’s 2020 tweet resurfaced. A mathematics graduate from Kerala, she rose from modest beginnings to lead Thiruvananthapuram’s civic body. Juggling motherhood and municipal governance, Arya has redefined leadership, embodying a new generation where age, ideology, and gender rewrite the rules of power.