Estimated reading time: 4 minutesPresident Donald Trump’s senior trade adviser has sparked accusations of Hinduphobia after using the term “Brahmins” to criticize India’s elite, prompting Hindu American groups to call for his immediate removal. Peter Navarro, speaking Sunday (Aug. 31) on Fox News about the administration’s new 50% tariff on Indian goods, denounced India’s trade policies before making the controversial comment. In Hindu tradition, Brahmins occupy the highest tier of the social order known as varna, or caste, a birth-based social hierarchy. Still, say Hindu advocates such as Deepa Karthik, general secretary of HinduPACT, caste rhetoric is commonplace in America from non-Indians. “When someone like Navarro uses caste to shame India, it lands on Hindus here,” she said in the press release.