Peter Navarro (AP photo)
NEW DELHI: India on Friday strongly rejected Peter Navarro’s “Brahmins profiting from Russian crude” remark, calling the statement inaccurate and misleading. Navarro, trade advisor to US President Donald Trump, made an obtuse remark claiming that New Delhi has been “indirectly funding” Russia’s war in Ukraine through discounted oil purchases, and that Brahmins are “profiting at the expense of Indians”. “We have seen the inaccurate and misleading statements made by Mr. (Peter) Navarro and obviously, we reject them”, said MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal.He further said: “Talks between both countries is going on and we are committed to strengthening our partnership.”During an interview with a pro-Republican Fox News, Navarro said, “Look, Modi’s a great leader. I don’t understand why he’s getting into bed with Putin and Xi Jinping when he’s the biggest democracy in the world. So 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. Yeah, and we’ll be watching that closely.”Navarro’s statement ignited backlash not only from BJP but also from the opposition in India. Congress leader Pawan Khera criticised Navarro’s “Brahmin” remark to justify US tariffs on India, and called it “baseless.” Speaking to ANI, Pawan Khera said, “America should not make baseless statements like this.” BJP MP Dinesh Sharma slammed Navarro for his ‘Brahmin’ remarks and said that the statement is factually wrong, culturally insensitive, and out of context in terms of India’s economic decisions. This is pertinent to mention that it is the BJP’s first reaction to the remarks.The floor seems to have fallen out of the dwindling India–US relationship under Trump, who has accused New Delhi of “fueling” Russia’s war in Ukraine.On Friday, Trump took a dig at the recently concluded China-hosted SCO summit by sharing a photo of PM Modi with Chinese president Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. “Looks like we’ve lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest, China. May they have a long and prosperous future together!” he said in a post.Trump’s decision to impose 50 per cent tariffs on India has sparked criticism even in the US political circles, particularly after an appeals court deemed the duties unlawful.
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