Last month, it was Wipro’s Azim Premji who ruffled the feathers of Americans when he spoke of a trade war if a US bill curbing H-1B visas was passed into law. Now, it is HCL Technologies CEO Vineet Nayar.

It is again the American protectionists who are up in arms. Nayar said American IT graduates are not employable by Indian outsourcing firms because of two reasons.

One, they merely want to get rich, not work their way up what is rigorous technical work. What is implicit is this: Indian outsourcers will go out of business if they have to employ such costly labour that also doesn’t want to get its hands dirty.

Two, it would be too expensive to train them. What is implicit is this: the US educational system does precious little to enhance “real world” skills of the students. In fact, one blogger suggests American universities have had chances to partner with Indian outsourcing companies but have been reluctant to do so, clearly squandering an opportunity that would benefit the overall industry.

What Nayar has said is not new. It has previously been said by AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson. But it marks the first time an Indian executive has launched a broadside against the American system.

You can read an article written by Nayar himself on Bloomberg in which he explains in greater detail the “employability crisis” facing the outsourcing industry. This is because IT companies have over the last several years found most graduates in the Indian educational system unemployable.

Now what?

I think most protectionists, among them President Obama, have got it wrong and should take Nayar’s pithy, and perhaps blunt, statement as a wake-up call. Nayar points out at obvious shortcomings. The industry cannot support high salaries, as is expected by American grads seeking fortunes in Silicon Valley; and everybody knows the US educational system has many more fundamental problems that erode its competitiveness, especially when compared with developing countries such as India and China.

Obviously, there will be a hue and cry over how Indians are stealing American jobs, and “stereotyping” of American graduates. But you know what, Americans are more fair-minded than they get credit for, not to mention smarter. They will get it right and the Grassley-Durbin bill on H-1B visas – capping the visas at 50% of the total employees –  will not be passed by the Congress.