Datanomics: Navarro's jibe rekindles Indian-Americans' caste discourse

Caste has occasionally surfaced as a point of tension among Indian Americans

White House Trade Councillor Peter Navarro stirred a controversy on Monday with remarks linked to the ongoing India-US tariff dispute. Commenting on India’s sale of oil refined from Russian crude to Western countries, Navarro alleged that “Brahmins are profiteering at the expense of the Indian people.” 

Although the term “Brahmins” is sometimes used in the US to signify “elites,” his comment has reignited debates on caste, both in India and within the Indian American diaspora.

  Most Indian-Americans identify as upper-caste Hindus 

The Carnegie Endowment’s Indian American Attitudes Survey 2024 found that a majority of Indian Americans in the US identified as upper-caste Hindus, while 32% did not identify with any caste. 

 

  Strong support for anti-caste measures in US  On caste-related policies in the US, 49% of Indian Americans supported anti-caste measures and 28% somewhat supported them. These measures refer to policies aimed at preventing caste-based discrimination. Support for anti-caste policies was strong across different groups of Indian Americans, with US-born citizens expressing the highest level of support.

 

  Hindus have a dominant share among respondents  The survey shows that 55 per cent of respondents identified themselves as Hindus, 14 per cent as Muslims, and 8 per cent as Christians.