Brahmins Profiteering At Expense Of Indian People: White House Trade Advisor Peter Navarro

Barely days after terming the war in Ukraine as ‘Modi’s war’, White House Trade Advisor Peter Navarro escalated his rhetoric against the Indian government. In an interview with a US channel generally regarded as leaning towards the Republicans, Sunday, Navarro said: “Modi is a great leader. I don’t understand why he is getting into bed with Putin and Xi Jinping when he’s (India) the biggest democracy in the world. So I would just simply say (to) the Indian people, please understand what’s going on here. You got Brahmins profiteering at the expense of the Indian people. We need that to stop.” 

Navarro was referring to the recent SCO summit in China where PM Modi met with Chinese premier Xi Jinping and Russian President, Vladimir Putin. This was PM Modi’s first trip to China in seven years and it came amidst intensified rhetoric against India by Navarro and his colleagues and tariffs by their boss, US President, Donald Trump. 

Notably, the narrative that ‘Brahmins are exploiting others and have monopolised all profits’ ties in neatly with the long-standing belief of some political parties in India.

It also aligns with the campaign plank adopted in the run up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections by current Leader of Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, when he was seen, multiple times, asking people their and their employer’s caste affiliations.