Washington/New Delhi: A new flashpoint erupted in the ongoing trade standoff between India and the United States after White House trade counsellor Peter Navarro accused Indian elites of profiteering from discounted Russian oil. Navarro’s remarks, delivered on Fox News and amplified through a series of posts on social media, have been sharply rebuked by Indian leaders, intellectuals, and the broader public.
“Modi is a great leader. I don’t understand why he’s getting into bed with Putin and Xi when he’s the biggest democracy in the world. I would simply say to the Indian people, please, understand what is going on here, you got Brahmins profiteering at the expense of the Indian people. We need that to stop,” Navarro said in his televised remarks.
The choice of the word “Brahmins” drew particular ire. While the term in American parlance has historically referred to social elites — most famously “Boston Brahmins,” a phrase coined in the 19th century by writer Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr — the caste reference in the Indian context triggered anger across the political spectrum. Many accused Navarro of trafficking in stereotypes and fuelling an “anti-India narrative.”
Navarro has previously described India as a “laundromat for the Kremlin”, accusing Indian refiners of buying Russian crude at steep discounts, processing it, and selling it onward, including to European buyers. “India’s big oil lobby has turned the world’s largest democracy into a massive refining hub and oil money laundromat for the Kremlin,” he posted last week, branding the conflict in Ukraine as “Modi’s war”.
The backlash in India was swift. Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri rejected the charges in a signed article in The Hindu, where he defended India’s energy strategy as legal and stabilising for world markets. “Some critics allege that India has become a ‘laundromat’ for Russian oil. Nothing could be further from the truth,” Puri wrote. He noted that India had long been among the world’s largest petroleum exporters, and its trade volumes had not materially changed since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
He further clarified that Russian oil, unlike Iranian or Venezuelan crude, is not under sanctions. “It is under a G-7/European Union price cap system deliberately designed to keep oil flowing while capping revenues,” Puri said. “Every transaction has used legal shipping and insurance, compliant traders and audited channels. India has not broken rules. India has stabilised markets and kept global prices from spiralling.”
India’s imports of Russian oil surged from less than 1 per cent of its crude basket before the Ukraine war to nearly 40 per cent at present, driven by heavy discounts after Western countries slashed purchases to penalise Moscow. Washington has repeatedly claimed that this allows New Delhi to fund Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war machine.
Navarro’s incendiary phrasing invited strong political responses. Priyanka Chaturvedi of the Shiv Sena said, “Peter Navarro’s invocation of a particular caste identity in India to make his point, even if it is to imply the ‘privileged lot,’ is shameful and sinister.” Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera added that the United States “cannot make such baseless statements.”
Sanjeev Sanyal, a member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Economic Advisory Council, argued that the remarks echoed colonial tropes. “This is derived directly from 19th-century colonial jibes going back to the likes of James Mill,” he said. Trinamool Congress MP Sagarika Ghose sought to contextualise the American usage of the word, pointing out that “‘Boston Brahmin’ was once a widely used term in the US to refer to the New England wealthy elite.” However, critics said invoking that expression in the Indian setting was not accidental and accused Navarro of deliberate provocation. On social media, trolls lampooned Navarro’s claim, with satirical images circulating of Russian oil being used in Hindu rituals, and Putin renamed “Vladimir Pandey”. Intellectual circles blasted the remark as “sinister” and “senile”, while also recalling America’s own history of courting Moscow and Beijing when convenient.
Navarro, who has long been a controversial figure in Washington, also drew attention domestically after lashing out at judges who struck down Trump’s tariff measures, calling them “politicians in black robes”. His combative stance contrasts sharply with the U.S. State Department’s more measured tone.
Meanwhile, the US Embassy in India on Sunday posted a message on X lauding the “enduring friendship” between Washington and New Delhi. The timing drew attention, as it coincided with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s bilateral talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Tianjin, following their much-publicised hug and car ride at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit.
“The partnership between the United States and India continues to reach new heights — a defining relationship of the 21st century,” the embassy wrote, highlighting cooperation in defence, entrepreneurship, and innovation under the banner “US-India Forward for Our People.”
An accompanying image carried US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s remark, “The enduring friendship between our two peoples is the bedrock of our cooperation and propels us forward as we realise the tremendous potential of our economic relationship.”
The post came just hours after images circulated of Modi walking with Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, which the Prime Minister later shared on X, saying, “Exchanging perspectives with President Putin and President Xi during the SCO Summit.”