A top Republican leader on Friday came out strongly against efforts to "demonise" India as a destination of shipping US jobs, and called for an end to such statements for political gains.
"We cannot allow our anxieties about globalisation to demonise India for crass political gains," top Republican Senator John McCain said in his remarks on Indo-US ties at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Outsourcing of jobs to India was one of the major election issues in the American mid-term elections held Tuesday.
The Republican Party gained majority in the US House of Representatives, as they defeated the Democratic Party of President Barack Obama, who during his entire electoral campaign repeatedly spoke against shipping US jobs overseas, including to India, and putting an end to tax breaks for such American companies.
"Outsourcing is an inescapable feature of today's global economy, not an Indian plot to steal American jobs, and we should not condone any unfair punishments of Indian workers," McCain said in his remarks.
"On the Indian side, relations with US cannot remain a political club, which the party out of power uses to beat the one in power. They would have done exactly the same when they would govern," he said.
"More leaders on both sides need to speak up for this partnership, and fight harder for it, and build the public support needed to sustain our strategic priorities. If not, our relationship will fall far short of its potential, as it has before," McCain said.