New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Friday rejected the White House Senior Advisor Peter Navarro's continuous tirade against India, terming his remarks as "inaccurate and misleading statements".
"We have seen the inaccurate and misleading statements made by Mr. (Peter) Navarro and obviously, we reject them", MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said during a weekly media briefing while responding to a question on Navarro's "Brahmins profiting" remarks.
The trade advisor's controversial remarks, made while defending US President Donald Trump's 50 per cent tariff on Indian goods, were labelled as "casteist" and "sinister" by analysts and caused a massive outrage in India.
The MEA spokesperson, however, reiterated that the relationship between India and the United States remains "very important" for New Delhi.
"India and the United States share a comprehensive global strategic partnership which is anchored in our shared interests, democratic values, and robust people-to-people ties. This partnership has weathered several transitions and challenges before. We remain focused on the substantive agenda that the two countries have committed to, and we hope that the relationship will continue to move forward based on mutual respect, and shared interests," said Jaiswal.
Earlier this week, Navarro had criticised India's foreign policy, questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent engagements with the Russian and Chinese leaders at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Tianjin, and declaring that "India needs to be with us, not Russia".
In an interview with IANS, Edward Price, a political economist and former head of Economic Policy in the British Consulate General in New York, had slammed Navarro's continuous tirade against India, calling it a "shame".
Price asserted that Navarro’s attempt to "instruct" a sovereign nation like India entirely misses the point of diplomacy.
"It is also historically illiterate. India has always gone its own way, culturally, politically and otherwise. It is a unique country with a unique statecraft. We shouldn't be telling India what to do. We should be making it a fair and friendly offer," he added.
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