This, of course, did not preclude them from embracing indulgent Indian “cultural” societies or attending glittery Indian society events, both of which had the grubby handprints of the MIC.

What Hindraf managed to do - and did really well - was to wake up an apathetic Indian middle class to the plight of their less fortunate brethren.

How exactly does a community improve when its political leadership, either establishment or opposition, are constantly telling them that they are there because the votes of the Malay and Chinese effectively advocate on behalf of their community?

Politicians understand the problem but…

This is not to say that mainstream political parties like the DAP have not had Indian political operatives who understood the problem. Here is then Klang MP Charles Santiago in 2017 when another prime minister was throwing breadcrumbs at the underprivileged Indian community.

“In fact, (then prime minister) Najib’s (Abdul Razak) instructions came after a ribbing by MIC president Dr S Subramaniam, who brought up the issue of 745 eligible Indian students who were unable to get places in public tertiary education institutions.

“If I may ask, why weren’t they given a spot in the first place? Why do politicians and the prime minister have to interfere, if the system offered places based on meritocracy and not other considerations, such as race and religion? Vulnerable students from all communities should be given priority and not offered places as an afterthought.”

I can’t remember what happened to Santiago. Oh, that is right. He was canned but given a really good parting gift. Mind you, I am not saying that Santiago would not do a good job but this is politics and everyone eventually gets touched.

This is why when I hear that someone like former Penang deputy chief minister P Ramasamy, who should and does know better than to attempt to start another party to champion the Indian cause, I just shake my head because it is another cynical attempt to manipulate a volatile class of people into voting (let’s face facts) against their self-interests.

I mean, start with this. Start small. All that money thrown at various alleviation programmes for Indians could be funnelled into something like an education project.

There are enough NGOs and pressure groups representing the underprivileged of the Indian community who could point to students who desperately need help either in the public or vernacular school education system. Just start there and build on that.

I’ll end with another BR Ambedkar quote - “Equality may be a fiction but nonetheless one must accept it as a governing principle.”