'Arrogance and chicanery can't build ties': Ex-foreign secretary fires back at Trump advisor 

Former Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal on Monday hit back at US President Donald Trump's top adviser Stephen Miller, calling his comments on India "ignorant and prejudiced" and accusing him of distorting facts for political positioning. "It is his rant against India that is astonishing," Sibal wrote on X. "With these kind of ignorant and prejudiced advisers no wonder he is contributing to the disarray of US foreign policy under Trump."

Sibal's comments came after Miller, in an interview with Fox News, accused India of "cheating on immigration", financing the war in Ukraine through Russian oil imports, and maintaining massive trade barriers despite portraying itself as one of America's closest friends. Miller also backed Trump's claim that India has failed to open its markets to US products and continues to rely heavily on Russian military supplies.

Refuting the narrative, Sibal wrote: "'India portrays itself as our closest friend' - the rhetoric is the opposite. It is the US leaders who have been defining relations with India as the defining partnership of the 21st century."

On immigration, Sibal said the allegations were not only baseless but offensive: "'India cheats on immigration' — suggests that the government of India officially is driving clandestine immigration. This kind of absurd charge shows how loose this adviser is in his public statements."

Addressing the energy trade issue, Sibal reminded that India's Russian oil purchases began in 2020 and were not a secret. "India is buying Russian oil since 2020. Why is this adviser astonished now? The previous US ambassador Garcetti said publicly that the US advised India to continue buying Russian oil to keep global prices stable so that US consumers are not hurt at the pump."

The former secretary further pointed out inconsistencies in the Trump camp's position: "US itself buys uranium, fertilisers, titanium etc. from Russia. Witkoff and Kiril Dimitriev have been discussing economic openings between the US and Russia at Trump's instance."

Sibal concluded his post by saying, "Mr Miller needs to get real - and show some honesty. Arrogance and chicanery can’t be the basis for building friendly India-US ties."

Miller's remarks come amid tariff tension between the US and India. On July 30, Trump announced a 25% tariff on Indian goods and accused India of benefiting unfairly from its trade relationship with the US. He also accused India of buying the "vast majority" of its military hardware from Russia and being one of Moscow's largest energy customers "at a time when everyone wants Russia to stop the killing in Ukraine."