‘Brahmins profiteering’: Trump aide Navarro’s unusual take on India’s Russian oil purchases

Peter Navarro, senior Counselor for Trade and Manufacturing of the White House and Donald Trump's close aid, has escalated his tirade against India’s Russian oil purchases – adding a new twist to his ongoing criticism. Launching a fresh salvo at New Delhi during an interview with Fox News, Peter Navarro said it was India's elite class – the Brahmins – who were profiteering from the Russian oil deal.

Alleging that Indian refiners purchase cheap Russian crude, process it, and then sell it abroad at a premium, Peter Navarro said, “India is nothing but a laundromat for the Kremlin.”

“And what do we have to do as taxpayers? We’ve got to send them more money. You got Brahmins profiteering at the expense of the Indian people. We need that to stop,” Donald Trump's aide said in the interview.

Navarro, considered the key driver behind the 50 per cent tariffs on India, had earlier slammed India for its business ties with Russia, blaming it for “funding” Moscow's war on Ukraine, suggesting that the third largest democracy “should act like one”.

He had also referred to the Ukraine war as “PM Modi's war”. 

Peter Navarro said India's oil purchase from Russia funds Vladimir Putin war and puts pressure on America to help Ukraine financially.

“Ukraine comes to us and Europe and says give us more money [for its war]. Everybody in America loses because of what India is doing. Consumers and businesses lose, workers lose because India's high tariffs cause jobs, income and higher wages. The taxpayer lose because we got to fund Modi's war,” Peter Navarro said.

He said, “The Indians are so arrogant about this. They say we don't have higher tariffs. It's our sovereignty. We can buy oil from anyone we want. India, you're the biggest democracy in the world. Okay? Act like one. Side with the democracies.”