Peter Navarro rakes up 'caste' over New Delhi's Russian oil deals

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro alleged that "Brahmins are profiteering at the expense of ordinary Indians", invoking caste fault lines to escalate his attack and portraying India's discounted Russian oil purchases as a grab by business elites.

Navarro's criticism has grown sharper as India refuses to halt Russian oil imports despite US pressure, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi has met Russian and Chinese leaders at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit to deepen ties with both countries.

"Modi is a great leader, but I don't understand why he is getting into bed with Putin and Xi Jinping when he leads the world's largest democracy," Navarro said in a TV interview. "I would simply say to the Indian people: please, see what's happening here. You have Brahmins profiteering at the expense of ordinary Indians. We need that to stop," Navarro said in reference to purchase of discounted Russian oil by Indian refiners.


The US has sought to frame India's Russian oil trade as benefitting only a handful of elites. Treasury secretary Scott Bessent earlier claimed India pocketed $16 billion in excess profits by buying cheap Russian oil and reselling it after processing, saying "some of the richest families in India" had gained from it.

Both state-run and private refiners import Russian oil, though private firms account for a larger share of processing. Exports, however, are dominated by billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries.

Navarro has previously branded the Ukraine war "Modi's war," arguing that India's payments for Russian oil bankroll Putin's invasion.

India, meanwhile, defends its purchases as a stabilizing force in the global oil market. "The larger truth is this-there is no substitute for the world's second-largest producer supplying nearly 10% of global oil," petroleum minister Hardeep Puri wrote in a newspaper article referring to Russia's production capacity. "India has stabilised markets and kept global prices from spiralling."

The US has slapped a 25% tariff on Indian exports in retaliation for New Delhi's refusal to halt Russian oil purchases, a move expected to hit exporters and threaten thousands of low-wage jobs.