Is Trump trying to sow chaos in India by tapping its fault lines?

New Delhi,UPDATED: Sep 1, 2025 15:37 IST

The Trump administration hasn't just made the fight against India personal, it is attempting something very dangerous--exploit the country's fault lines to instigate its people to take on the government. The mention of a caste by Peter Navarro, President Trump's senior aide, is a red flag. Covert American intervention in Bangladesh has already pushed India's backyard into communal chaos and governmental flux.

There's no doubt that Navarro, the White House trade advisor, is trying to sow chaos in India. He directly addressed the people of India and instigated them during a Fox News interview.

On policy matters, a government talks to another government. That a senior functionary is addressing the people of India, and not the elected government, reveals the Trump administration's diabolical intent. By addressing Indians directly, the Trump administration is undermining a democratically elected government in India.

This even as Indian leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, worked to give Indo-American ties a boost over the last 25 years. What started during Atal Bihari Vajpayee's term was taken several notches up by Manmohan Singh, who put his government on the line for the Indo-US nuclear deal. Modi even rallied for a Trump second term in 2019 with his "Aab ki Baar Trump Sarkar" slogan.

The Trump administration, however, has been raising the antagonism against India by several notches with every passing week. The real motivation? India not backing his Nobel Peace Prize aspirations.

US President Donald Trump first tried to undermine PM Modi by falsely claiming that he had mediated the India-Pakistan ceasefire in May after four days of war. Then his administration tried to create a schism between the government and the people by branding the Russia-Ukraine conflict "Modi's war".

The Trump administration then imposed punitive tariffs and penalties for dealing in Russian crude, and projected that the Indians were facing the brunt of the government's actions that were benefitting a "few rich families in India".

Trump and his cronies have ratcheted it up to a terrible level by bringing in caste and class, and addressing Indians directly.

NAVARRO BRINGS IN CASTE AND CLASS, INSTIGATES INDIANS

Peter Navarro's latest remarks reveal the Trump administration's intentions.

"I would simply say this to Indian people to understand what is going on here. You have got Brahmins profiteering at the expense of the Indian people, and we want that to stop," Navarro said in the Fox News interview.

This came in quick succession after Navarro, in a thread on X, gave it away that the Trump administration had made the tariffs and penalties against India a subject of personal vendetta.

Jefferies and The New York Times have now publicly attested to what was well-known in expert circles--the record-high 50% tariffs on India have nothing to do with Russian oil but with India calling out Trump's lies.

Donald Trump and his Cabinet have been unabashedly lobbying for the Nobel Peace Prize for him. His claims of having mediated the May ceasefire between India and Pakistan would have been the centrepiece of that pitch. PM Modi stayed away from endorsing those lies but a slimy Pakistan went ahead and endorsed "daddy's" Nobel daydreams. India has been slammed with 50% tariffs; Pakistan has gotten away with 19%.

Navarro, an economist, has shape-shifted to become Trump's attack dog. Like his master, he has been growling lies upon lies against India.

He branded the Russia-Ukraine conflict "Modi's war". He called India "oil money laundromat" and a "strategic freeloader". By using an image out of context of PM Modi meditating in saffron robes at a Kanniyakumari rock cave, he attacked India's civilisational roots.

India has bought crude from Russia for energy security, which was encouraged by the US, prioritising its energy security. And not India, China is Moscow's biggest oil importer. India has maintained strategic non-alignment and it was Washington DC that pushed New Delhi towards Moscow with its embargoes and sanctions. In fact, it has tried to balance energy and defence procurements from the US.

TRUMP ADMIN ATTEMPTS TO BECOME INDIAN OPPOSITION

That the Trump administration's attacks are directed at giving ammo to the Opposition is clear from it targeting India's big businesses.

"India's Big Oil lobby has turned the largest democracy in the world into a massive refining hub and oil money laundromat for the Kremlin," Navarro posted on X on August 29.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had on August 19 claimed some of the "richest families in India" benefited from the purchase of Russian crude oil, according to Bloomberg news agency.

This is clearly the line that opposition parties, particularly Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, have been taking to attack the Modi government. But that's internal politics, and Navarro has no business in this.

After being wise for days by not amping up Navarro's diabolic attacks, the Opposition seems to have taken the bait.

Congress leader Udit Raj endorsed Navarro's claims on India's crude purchases that its "upper-caste corporate houses are profiting" from the country's crude oil as "factually correct".

"I fully agree with Peter Navarro's remarks that Brahmins are benefiting from Russian oil purchases. It is true that corporate houses in India are largely run by upper castes... Ordinary Indians are not benefiting from this," the Congress leader from the Dalit community said.

TRUMP ADMIN INSTIGATING INDIANS TO WEAKEN INDIA

With his remarks of "Brahmins profiteering at the expense of the Indian people", Navarro is trying to exploit the country's age-old fault lines. The Trump administration is making the tariffs against India both a matter of caste and class. It is an open call to the masses.

As Trump and his cronies keep ratcheting up the attacks against India, one can only wonder if the American political game would move from caste to communalism next?

The US has a history of engineering chaos in countries. From Africa to the Middle East to right in India's backyard, the instances of the CIA's interventions in regime change are no secret.

Trump is promoting Pakistani Army chief Asim Munir against the country's civilian leadership, while the US played a crucial role in fuelling the anti-Sheikh Hasina movement in Bangladesh because it considered her pro-India and inimical to DC's strategic interests.

Now, Bangladesh has been thrown into utter chaos with minorities being attacked and unabated political violence leading to scores of deaths.

The US has a history of trying to weaken political establishments that refuse to kowtow. The Modi government has stood up to the US by rejecting Trump's claims, which the US President--known for a bloated ego--has taken personally. And there is a definite and dangerous pattern how it is trying to create an internal divide in an assertive India. There's an Agent of Chaos right in the White House. Indians need to be cautious.

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