Navarro’s ‘Brahmins Profiteering’ Remark Sparks Outrage
White House trade adviser’s caste-linked jibe amid Trump’s 25% tariff on India’s Russian oil imports slammed as “casteist” and “sinister.”
- Navarro accused Indian “Brahmins” of profiteering from Russian oil trade.
- Comment denounced as “casteist, sinister and anti-Hindu” by Indian leaders.
- PM’s advisor Sanjeev Sanyal linked remark to colonial-era stereotypes.
- Priyanka Chaturvedi, Pawan Khera slammed deliberate usage of caste term.
GG News Bureau
Washington, 4th Sept: A controversial remark by White House trade adviser Peter Navarro has triggered outrage in India, with political leaders, economists, and commentators denouncing it as “casteist” and part of an “anti-Hindu and anti-India narrative.”
Navarro, defending Donald Trump’s 25 per cent tariff on Indian goods over crude imports from Russia, accused India’s elite of profiteering. “India is nothing but a laundromat for the Kremlin… You got Brahmins profiteering at the expense of the Indian people,” he said, alleging Indian refiners were re-exporting processed Russian oil at a premium.
The statement, seen as the sharpest attack yet from Washington since Trump doubled tariffs on India, has been widely condemned.
Sanjeev Sanyal, member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, called the remark colonial in tone. “This is derived directly from 19th century colonial jibes going back to the likes of James Mill. Edward Said’s point about Orientalism is perhaps more correct for India than his original thesis on the Middle East,” he said.
Opposition leaders also hit back. Congress leader Pawan Khera said the United States “cannot make such baseless statements.” Shiv Sena’s Priyanka Chaturvedi labelled the remark “shameful and sinister,” adding that the invocation of caste identity by a senior US official was deliberate.
Trinamool MP Sagarika Ghose sought to contextualise the remark, noting that “Boston Brahmin” was once a US term for New England elites. But her explanation drew pushback online, with many arguing Navarro’s use of the word in reference to India was no coincidence.
The controversy comes as Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Tianjin for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, where he met Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The timing of Navarro’s remark, alongside Trump’s steep tariffs, underscores deepening tensions between New Delhi and Washington.
