White House trade advisor Peter Navarro's "Brahmins profiteering" remark - with reference to Donald Trump's 25 per cent tariff for buying Russian oil - caused outrage in India Monday, with many calling the remark 'casteist' and 'sinister', and denouncing an 'anti-Hindu and anti-India narrative'.
Navarro's comment has also been seen as further sign of strained diplomatic relations between Washington and New Delhi, over tariffs and an apparent breakdown in India-US trade deal talks.
Since Donald Trump dropped his tariff bombshell, US government officials have spoken sharply of India continuing to buy crude oil from Russia, arguing it amounts to funding Vladimir Putin's war on Ukraine, a war Trump has failed to end despite boasting last year he could do so within hours.
Navarro's statement was, perhaps the sharpest so far, prompting pushback from Sanjeev Sanyal, a member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Economic Advisory Council, and opposition leaders, including the Congress' Pawan Khera and Shiv Sena's Priyanka Chaturvedi.
Sanyal said Navarro's words revealed who, in the United States controls the narrative about India.
"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 Middle East."
Priyanka Chaturvedi also ripped into the 'profiteering Brahmins' remark.
The usage of the word Brahmin (yes elite Boston Brahmins US context am aware) by someone senior in US Administration cannot come out of the blue in India's context, this was deliberate. So please sit out on explaining this one.
— Priyanka Chaturvedi🇮🇳 (@priyankac19) September 1, 2025
"Peter Navarro's invocation of a particular caste identity in India to make his point, even if it is to imply the 'privileged lot' vis-a-vis the rest, is shameful and sinister," she said, simultaneously scorning "sermons on the usage of the word Brahmins in the American context".
She acknowledged a different use of the word 'brahmin' in the US, i.e., it refers to a class of wealthy elites, and has no link to the caste system as it exists in India, but pointed out also that for a senior member of Trump's administration to use the term "is deliberate".
The Congress' Pawan Khera said the United States cannot make such "baseless statements".
Meanwhile, Trinamool MP Sagarika Ghose offered an insight into the American context.
“Boston Brahmin” was once a widely used term in the US to refer to the American New England wealthy elite. “Brahmin” is still a term used in the English speaking world to denote social or economic “elites” ( in this case the rich). The illiteracy on X is astonishing.
— Sagarika Ghose (@sagarikaghose) September 1, 2025
In her post on X she said, "'Boston Brahmin' was once a widely used term in the US to refer to the American New England wealthy elite. 'Brahmin' is still a term used in the English-speaking world to denote social or economic "elites" (in this case, the rich)."
However, her post invited several cutting counters, with many suggesting Navarro using that word in this context, i.e., 'brahmin' while referring to India, was not a coincidence.
Many also accused her of trying to defend the trade official's statement.
Last week Navarro dubbed New Delhi a "laundromat for the Kremlin" and slammed the country's elite for profiteering "at the expense of the Indian people".
READ | "Brahmins Profiteering...": Top Trump Aide On India's Russian Oil Trade
"India is nothing but a laundromat for the Kremlin...You got Brahmins profiteering at the expense of the Indian people," he said, alleging that Indian refiners were buying discounted Russian crude, processing it, and exporting it at a premium.
He also tried to defend Team Trump's punitive tariffs on Indian exports - which are significantly higher than those on China and Turkey, who also import Russian crude - and claimed Delhi's ties with Moscow and Beijing were undermining global stability.
The attack came as Modi was in China - his first visit in seven years - for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in China. The PM met China's Xi Jinping and Putin while in Tianjin.
With input from agencies
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