- Brahmins profiteering at the expense of the Indian people. — Peter Navarro
- India is ignorance at the least & racial at the worst. — Peter Navarro
- India nothing but laundromat of Russia’ — Peter Navarro
- Shame to see Modi getting in bed with Xi and Putin. — Peter Navarro
- I don’t understand why he is getting into bed with Putin and Xi Jinping when he’s the biggest democracy in the world. — Peter Navarro
US President Donald Trump’s Senior Trade Advisor Peter Navarro, while talking about the punitive 50% tariff on imports from India, claimed in an interview on Fox News on Monday that “Brahmins” were profiteering from the Ukraine War at the expense of Indian people while PM Narendra Modi was “getting in bed with Putin and Xi Jinping.”
The latest in a series of anti-India statements by Navarro came at the heels of PM Modi’s bilateral engagement with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday on the sidelines of the SCO leaders’ summit in Tianjin. Russian President Vladimir Putin is also among the leaders attending the Eurasian summit.
Referring to India as “nothing but a laundromat for the Kremlin”, Trump’s trade advisor doubled down on his claims that New Delhi had enabled trade imbalances and geopolitical alliances that run counter to US interests.
“So, you know, look, Modi’s a great leader… But I don’t understand why he’s getting into bed with Putin and Xi Jinping…when he’s the leader of the biggest democracy in the world. I would just simply say to the Indian people. Please, understand what’s going on here. You’ve got Brahmins profiteering at the expense of the Indian people. We need that to stop,” he added.
While Americans may use the word “Brahmin” in non-caste contexts, Navarro’s controversial remarks are unlikely to go down well with Indians, most of whom are already peeved by his previous statements targeting the country, its leaders, and businessmen for allegedly profiting from the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
