 "Illustration: Ajaya Mohanty")
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
