'Do Indian PSUs have a caste?': Ex-Foreign Secretary counters Navarro's remark on Brahmins

Former Foreign Secretary of India Kanwal Sibal on Monday said that this is a new line of attack from the US against New Delhi. Sibal said that bringing in caste while attacking India for its purchases of Russian oil is a new low, even by the Trump administration's standards. 

Sibal even went on to question whether public sector oil companies in India had a caste system. 

"Brahmins? This is a new line of attack. Brings in caste not only totally irrelevantly but in total ignorance of the caste of those he has in mind. Vicious. Public sector oil companies (PSUs) also bought discounted Russian oil in large quantities apart from private companies. Do PSUs have a caste? Fatuous," Sibal, who also served as an Ambassador to Russia, wrote on X (formerly Twitter). 

He further said that he did not know Rosneft, which has a 49.13 per cent stake in Nyara Energy, was Brahmin. Sibal also said that it was illogical to claim that buying discounted Russian oil and selling refined products in domestic and international markets was against the interests of Indians. 

"In Nyara Energy, Rosneft has a 49.13% stake. Didn't know Russians have a caste system, and Rosneft is Brahmin. Idiotic. How is legally buying discounted Russian oil and selling refined products both domestically and in the international market by our companies at the cost of the Indian people? India introduced a windfall profit tax on July 1, 2022, targeting the excess profits of energy companies. It was removed in December 2024 after 30 months. Navarro is out of control."

His remarks came after White House trade advisor Peter Navarro said that "Brahmins" are profiteering at the expense of the Indian people.

“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 in a new rant against India. 

He also said that he does not understand how Prime Minister Narendra Modi is cooperating with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping "when he's the biggest democracy in the world".

Over the last few days, Trump's senior advisor has been consistently targeting India.

When asked about China's purchases of Russian oil and whether the extra tariffs on India are enough to "choke" Putin, he said: “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?”