New Delhi, Sep 5 (UNI) Industrialist Harsh Goenka has slammed White House Trade Advisor Peter Navarro for his casteist remark on Indian billionaires that ‘Brahmins’ were profiteering at the expense of common Indians.
Harsh Goenka, chairman of RPG enterprises, posted on X “ Dear Peter Navarro, India’s boardrooms aren’t run by Brahmins. Tata? Not Brahmin. Reliance ? Not Brahmin. Mahindra? Not Brahmin. Wipro? Not Brahmin. Birla? Not Brahmin.”
“But India’s soldiers, scientists, poets? Many were. From Param Vir Chakra heroes to Nobel minds like CV Raman, S Chandrasekhar, and Tagore. Unlike some others who are trying to lobby for the Nobel prize, our Brahmins got their prize only through merit,” Goenka said while taking a dig at US President Donald Trump for lobbying for Nobel Prize.
Earlier this week, Navarro accused India of being an ‘Oil money laundromat for the Kremlin’ and claimed that Brahmins were profiteering at the cost of ordinary Indians. The remark was slammed as casteist, racist, and misplaced.
However, Navarro himself got trapped after commenting ‘Brahmins are profiteering’ due to once popular ‘Boston Brahmins’ in US who were the members of Boston’s historic upper class.
The term ‘Boston Brahmin’ was coined by author Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. in 1861, which was used to describe a small, exclusive group of Anglo-Saxon protestant families who traced their lineage back to the earliest English Colonialists of Massachusetts Bay.
Navarro’s remark blurred two worlds: India’s caste hierarchy and America’s old “Boston Brahmins,” a wealthy Protestant elite. But Goenka’s response today cut through the noise. Reminding Navarro that India’s strength lies not in stereotypes, but in the achievements of its people.
Goenka signed off as ‘An Indian (Not a Brahmin)
