New Delhi: White House trade advisor Peter Navarro has stirred a controversy as he said that “Brahmins” were “profiteering at the expense of the Indian people”. The Donald Trump aide made the comments during an interview on Fox News on Sunday (August 31) as he accused India of laundering Russian oil while defending the 50% US tariff on Indian goods.

“India is nothing but a laundromat for the Kremlin,” he said, claiming that Indian refiners buy discounted Russian crude, process it and sell the finished products at a premium abroad. 

“What happened? Well, the Russian refiners went in and got into bed with big oil India. Putin gives (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi a discount on the crude. They refine it and they ship it to Europe, Africa and Asia at a big premium and they make a ton of money,” he told Fox News.

Acknowledging Narendra Modi as “a great leader”, he went on to say, “I don't understand why he is getting into bed with Putin and Xi Jinping when he's the biggest democracy in the world. I would just say the Indian people, please, understand what's going on here. The Brahmins are profiteering at the expense of the Indian people. We need that to stop,” Navarro said.

“It kills Ukrainians,” Navarro said, adding, “And what do we have to do as taxpayers? We’ve got to send them more money.” 

The remarks caused an outrage in India with many calling it ‘casteist' and 'sinister' and denouncing it as an “anti-Hindu” narrative.

However, Trinamool Congress MP Sagarika Ghose offered a clarification regarding Navarro’s remarks, saying he was not referring to Indian Brahmins but ‘Boston Brahmins’, a term used for American elites of Boston society in the nineteenth century.

In a post on X, she wrote, "'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."

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said that Navarro’s usage of the word Brahmin “was not out of the blue”. 

“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,” she wrote on X.

"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 claimed, while scorning "sermons on the usage of the word Brahmins in the American context".

Part of the criticism against Navarro’s comments also stem from his previous controversial stance. Just last week, he had described Russia’s war in Ukraine as “Modi’s war” and then continued the charge with a nine-part thread on X, calling out India’s trade ties with Russia and saying that the US’s tariff and penalty was “about cutting off the financial lifeline India has extended to Putin’s war machine”. 

The posts had come hours after trading sources involved in oil sales to India told Reuters that Indian refiners would increase Russian oil purchases in September by 10-20% from August levels, or by 150,000-300,000 barrels per day.

Amid the latest controversy, however, the US Embassy in India, using a quote by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio from his Republic Day greetings, claimed on Monday (September 1) that the partnership between the United States and India “continues to reach new heights” and that it is “a defining relationship of the 21st century”. 

“This month, we’re spotlighting the people, progress, and possibilities driving us forward. From innovation and entrepreneurship to defense and bilateral ties, it’s the enduring friendship between our two peoples that fuels this journey. Follow the hashtag and be a part of #USIndiaFWDforOurPeople,” read the Embassy’s post.

It was learnt that the US embassy had planned this social media campaign for a while.

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