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Congress leader Pawan Khera on Monday criticised White House Adviser Peter 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." Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress MP Sagarika Ghose said that the term "Brahmin" is currently used to describe the social or economic "elites" in Britain. She further mentioned that the term "Boston Brahmin" was once used in the US, referring to the wealthy elite of New England. "'Boston Brahmin' was once a widely used term in the US to refer to the American New England wealthy elite. "Brahmin" is still a term used in the English-speaking world to denote social or economic "elites" (in this case the rich). The illiteracy on X is astonishing," the 'X' post said. Indian economist and member of the PM's economic advisory council, Sanjeev Sanyal also responded to the issue, stating that Peter Navarro's comments indicate who controls the narrative about India inside the US. "This latest jibe from Navarro - that "Brahmins are profiteering" from Russian oil - tells us a lot about who controls narratives about India and Hindus inside the policy/intellectual spaces of America. This is derived directly from 19th century colonial jibes going back to the likes of James Mill. Edward Said's point about Orientalism is perhaps more correct for India than his original thesis on Middle East," Sanyal wrote on 'X'. Earlier, Peter Navarro once again took a strident position justifying US President Donald Trump's decision to levy a 50 per cent tariff on imports from India, now making a caste-based remark on the issue and accusing the Brahmins of the country of "profiteering at the expense of the Indian people." Referring to India as "nothing but a laundromat for the Kremlin", Navarro, during an interview with Fox News on Monday, accused New Delhi of enabling trade imbalances and geopolitical alliances that run counter to US interests. He criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's foreign policy approach while calling him a "great leader", suggesting that India's engagement with Russia and China undermines its status as the world's largest democracy. "And on top of that, by the way, 25 per cent or 50 per cent is because India is the Maharaja of tariffs. They have the highest tariffs in the world. They won't let us sell to them, so who gets hurt, workers in America, taxpayers in America... Ukrainians in cities are getting killed by Russian drones," the White House Trade Adviser said. "So, you know, look, Modi's a great leader... But I don't understand why he's getting into bed with Putin and Xi Jinping...when he's the leader of the biggest democracy in the world. 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," he added. (ANI)
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