IIT-50, a well-publized event for celebrating 50 years of IITs was held on January 18th of 2003. Indian media, government, and IIT alumni associations didn't get tired of reporting on and analyzing each word Bill Gates said. Just a few hours ago, there was a large, perhaps the largest in San Francisco's history, a peaceful demostration of about 150 thousand not far from the IIT celebrations venue. I went there and I doubt there were any IITians there. (There were hardly any Indians too.) It was the anti-war protest against the impending Iraq war. No participation in such a simple act!
While IITians seem to be generally absent from any major political activities, they do have pet projects of their own. In the USA, consistent with their primary goal of sending their children to either MIT or Stanford, they would send their children to the best high schools they can afford, even buy houses in cities with excellent school reputation, attend all the PTA meetings, and constantly remind their children to become like themselves. After so much hard work they put in their children's upbringing, mostly without any input from the children themselves, who can blame them for having almost no idea about how the world works and having no interest in participating in it.