It is a fair bet that when the ruling elite of a poor developing country ignores a non-violent protest by 25,000 desperate citizens, it will soon face a violent one. When a 25,000-strong army of landless workers, indigenous tribespeople and “untouchables” from the bottom of Indian society marched 320km to Delhi to highlight the growing divide between haves and have-nots, they were met with crushing indifference. Admittedly, their timing was bad: Mumbai’s Sensex index on Monday punched through the 20,000 mark for the first time, triggering orgiastic self-congratulation by the English language media and eclipsing all other national news.

“The first 10,000 took over 20 years. The next came in just 20 months. Superpower 2020?” rhapsodised the front-page headline of the Economic Times, the cheerleader for a phenomenon it calls the “global Indian takeover”. In their excitement, several other newspapers double-counted the value of all Mukesh Ambani’s stakes in various listed Reliance entities and erroneously concluded that he had overtaken Bill Gates and Carlos Slim to become the wealthiest person in the world, with investments valued at $63bn. Although that joyous moment may not be far off – the elder Ambani is worth nearer $50bn – it has not come yet.