‘False villainization’: Hindu American Foundation director speaks up on Peter Navarro’s ‘Brahmin’ attack

Hindu American Foundation director Suhag A Shukla mentioned Peter Navarro’s Brahmin assertion was a slur.

President Donald Trump’s commerce adviser Peter Navarro not too long ago made a snide comment amid the continued commerce battle and mentioned Brahmins are making income as India continues to purchase oil from Russia. A significant row broke out over whether or not he meant Brahmins caste of India or the wealthy individuals of India as ‘Brahmins’ discuss with the elites within the US. Hindu American Foundation director Suhag A Shukla reacted to the row and mentioned to each Indian, Navarro’s comment was a slur. “Same dangerous, conspiratorial, stereotypical, false villainization of a people,” Shukla posted on X. Shukla mentioned the slur was akin to if an Indian commerce negotiator had mentioned ‘Jews had been profiteering in America’. “What if an Indian trade negotiator said: ‘I want Americans to understand what is going on. Jews are profiteering by buying Russian oil at the expense of the American people.’ That’s how Indians heard this @RealPNavarro —as a slur. Same dangerous, conspiratorial, stereotypical, false villainization of a people,” Shukla wrote. Shukla or HAF is just not the primary Hindu group to have reacted to Navarro’s Brahmin assertion. HinduPACT’s American Hindus Against Defamation branded the remarks “inappropriate” and “Hinduphobic”. “It (Mr Navarro’s remark) is not a ‘critique’; it is a colonial-era trope recycled to depict India as unjust,” AHAD declared. “This is not foreign policy. It’s weaponised Hinduphobia,” the group’s Executive Chair, Ajay Shah, mentioned, “People like Navarro have no place in American political life.“

What did Peter Navarro say about Indian Brahmins?

Navarro has been talking at size on Trump’s 50% tariff on India — justifying it. “India is nothing but a laundromat for the Kremlin…You got Brahmins profiteering at the expense of the Indian people,” he mentioned resulting in a significant row in India. New Delhi mentioned the assertion was inaccurate and deceptive.

Confusion over Brahmins

In the US, ‘Boston Brahmins’ refers back to the previous, rich, elite households of Boston, Massachusetts, who traditionally held nice social, cultural, and political affect in New England and the United States. Notable Boston Brahmins are the Adams household, the Lowells, the Cabots, the Lodges, the Peabodys, the Forbeses, the Winthrops and the Saltonstalls. But the phrase Brahmin is from the Hindu caste system, and in a approach, ‘Boston Brahmins’ refers back to the American higher class.