GOP mayoral nominee Curtis Sliwa defended his Democratic socialist foe Zohran Mamdani over his Columbia college admissions scandal -- warning the relentless attacks by other rivals will backfire.
"Why are we making this an issue?" fumed the Guardian Angels founder in an exclusive interview with The Post. "They are piling on, and now he is a martyr."
The mayoral frontrunner has faced a barrage of backlash from mayoral rivals Eric Adams and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo after his college application was leaked -- following a hack of the Ivy League school's servers. The leaked document revealed Mamdani had checked both "Asian" and "African American" on his application.
The Queens lawmaker, who was born in Uganda and is of Indian descent, copped to the error and said he felt that just one didn't capture his identity. Mamdani was not accepted into the school where his dad was a professor.
Adams called Mamdani's application "deeply offensive" as the incumbent is running for reelection as an independent after dropping out of last month's Democratic Party primary.
"This is not just dishonest -- it's possibly fraudulent," Hizzoner railed.
Cuomo -- who lost to Mamdani in last month's primary but will still appear on November ballots on a minor-party line -- piled on. The ex-governor said called the application controversy "just the tip of the iceberg" with potential "fraud."
But Sliwa, a political firebrand not typically known for measured responses, warned moderates from focusing too much on such small-potato issues.
"Yes, he shouldn't have put down that he was African American, but it's splitting hairs," Sliwa said. "You've got to hit him on the issues."
Instead, the GOP candidate said he's trying to tap into the anger and hope from the socialist's campaign in the primary, where Mamdani caught fire with the younger generations and trounced Cuomo during his political comeback tour.
"Moderates are pushing Zohran supporters aside instead of winning them over," Sliwa said, adding that he's staffed his campaign with a number of Gen-Z and Millennial advisers.
"A lot of people are only on board because of those buzz words, they don't agree with him -- but they all agree, and we should too, that the cost of living is too high. We gotta figure out a way to address that.
"Improve, don't move."
Sliwa also warned that the attacks are resonating adversely in the Muslim communities in the Big Apple, which account for nearly 1 million residents.
"These are very conservative people, many of them voted for Trump, but because they are getting a sense of an attack on their religion with the attacks on Zohran -- they are rallying around him," Sliwa said.
The red beret-wearing candidate pointed to how it already proved to be a losing strategy with Cuomo in the primary.
"Cuomo couldn't put a dent in him with $25 million, it just strengthened him."