Boston Brahmins: Term for elites or caste? Row over Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro’s remark explained

Peter Navarro

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro has again stirred up a controversy with his statement that said that “Brahmins” are profiteering at the expense of the Indian people and it needs to "stop".

“Look (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi is a great leader,” Navarro, the Trump administration’s Senior Counsellor for Trade and Manufacturing, said in an interview with Fox News Sunday, criticising India for its purchases of Russian oil.

The trade adviser said that he doesn't understand how the Indian leader is cooperating with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping "when he's the biggest democracy in the world." “So I would just simply say, the Indian people, please understand what's going on here. You got Brahmins profiteering at the expense of the Indian people. We need that to stop,” Navarro said.

Navarro has been consistently targeting India over the last few days following a major downturn in ties between Washington and New Delhi over President Donald Trump's policies on trade and tariffs.

Navarro was asked about China’s purchases of Russian oil and whether the implementation of extra tariffs on India is enough to “choke” Putin.

“Well, let's be clear, we have 50 per cent tariffs now on India, but we also have a little over 50 per cent tariffs on China. So there's a question, how much higher do you want to go without actually hurting ourselves?” he said.

Navarro said that before Putin invaded Ukraine in February 2022, India didn't buy Russian oil, and its purchases were of very, very small amounts.

“What happened? Well, the Russian refiners went in and got into bed with big oil in India. Putin gives Modi a discount on the crude. They refine it, and they ship it to Europe, Africa and Asia at a big premium, and they make a ton of money,” he said.

“Now, what's wrong with that picture?” Navarro said, adding that this “fuels" the Russian war machine, saying India is “nothing but a laundromat for the Kremlin".

Defending its purchase of Russian crude oil, India has been maintaining that its energy procurement is driven by national interest and market dynamics.

Russia has emerged as India's top energy supplier since the West slapped sanctions on its crude oil after the invasion of Ukraine.

“It kills Ukrainians. And what we have to do as taxpayers, we got to send them more money so Ukraine can defend themselves. And on top of that, by the way, the 25 per cent of the 50 per cent is because India is the ‘maharaja’ of tariffs," Navarro alleged.

"They have the highest tariffs in the world. So they export us a bunch of stuff, (and) they won't let us sell to them. So who gets hurt? Workers in America, taxpayers in America, Ukrainians in cities getting killed by Russian drones,” he claimed.

Navarro has previously described the Ukraine conflict as “Modi’s war” and said the “road to peace” runs partly “right through New Delhi”. The US has refrained from criticising China, the largest importer of Russian crude oil.

The controversy over ‘Brahmin’ and 'Boston Brahmin'

However, the controversy over the term ‘Brahmin’ used by Navarro has taken a turn toward what it implies – is it a term for wealthy elites in Boston ‘Boston Brahmins’ or ‘caste’ in the Indian social structure.

Responding to this term, Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Saket Gokhale said that Navarro is from Boston where the term ‘Brahmin’ is used for someone who is extremely rich.

Gokhale said that the BJP “ecosystem” spokespersons should start reading some real books and called it “classic case of ignorance”

Classic case of ignorance (and I don’t mean Navarro)

Peter Navarro is from Cambridge, MA. In New England (esp Boston & around where he’s from), the term “Brahmin” is used for someone that’s extremely rich

BJP “ecosystem” spokespersons should start reading some real books 🙄 pic.twitter.com/pT3MbbtXR8

— Saket Gokhale MP (@SaketGokhale) September 1, 2025

On Peter Navarro's "Brahmin profiteering" remark, BJP MP Dinesh Sharma said that Navarro;s statement was “factually wrong, culturally insensitive, and out of context in terms of India's economic decisions.” Sharma said his statement appears to be an attempt to flare tensions in India-US relations.

#WATCH | On Peter Navarro's "Brahmin profiterring" remark, BJP MP Dinesh Sharma says, "I think Samajwadi Party's statements have made an impact in the US too...Peter Navarro's statement on Brahmins is factually wrong, culturally insensitive, and out of context in terms of India's… pic.twitter.com/raN1Q8oKfo

— ANI (@ANI) September 1, 2025

TMC MP Sagarika Ghose also said that “Boston Brahmin” was once a widely used term in the US to refer to the American New England wealthy elite.

She said that “Brahmin” is still a term used in the English speaking world to denote social or economic “elites” ( in this case the rich), adding that the “illiteracy on X is astonishing”.

Who are Boston Brahmins?

Oliver Wendell Holmes introduced the phrase for Boston’s elite families, terming them as "the Brahmin Caste of New England" in his 1861 novel Elsie Venner. The expression, which likened Boston’s elite class to India’s Brahmins, has since become a lasting identifier of the city’s old elite.

They were mostly the descendants of Puritans, having made their fortunes as American merchants, according to a PBS report. They were the closest thing the United States has ever had to a true aristocracy.

Holmes described Boston Brahmins as a group who believed they were destined to create a "shining city on a hill", rooted in the Puritan ideals of hard work, thrift, education, and culture, as per New England Historical Society.